The Scotia Pokémon Classic Tournament Prologue: Second Chance
by SwampertUntilWeWin31
Summary: A tournament set in a region I made, based on my home country of Scotland.
1. Prologue

Prologue: Second Chance

 _(Note: This is a song fic. All the chapters in this story will be. Most of the songs I picked are just there, because they sound cool, to me. But a few here and there have some meaning to them. The song I picked for this chapter is called Second Chance by Shinedown. I picked it because it has some meaning to the original character, and to myself. I'm from Scotland, which is what the Scotia region I created is based on, and I've been backpacking and working around Australia for the past six months. I'm hoping when I go home next year, I'll have grown as a person, myself. Oh, also, this is the only chapter where a character talks to you.)_

Hey. How's things? My name is Seth. I'm a seasoned Pokémon Trainer. You name it, I've been there. From Kanto to Kalos. With my Partner, an Arcanine named Opie, we've won countless battles, challenged Gym Leaders, caught Hundreds of Pokémon beat veteran trainers and earned the respect, admiration and friendship of all we've encountered, human and Pokémon alike.

I come from an Island called Scotia. It's a nice place, full of heather covered hills, vast forests, endless rivers and some of the must beautiful sights one can imagine. Hills are topped with castle ruins, the towns and cities are littered with both old and new architecture. It's great and by now you're thinking there must be a downside, right? I'm going to level with you, it's neither the warmest or, driest, country in this world. In fact, it does rain a fair bit, here. But it's my home.

As far as Pokémon are concerned, because of where Scotia is, a lot of Pokémon have migrated here from Kanto, Johto and Kalos. Some from Hoenn, Sinnoh and Unova were introduced to the Island. Which sounds great, but we don't have any Pokémon of our own. We have no Legendary Pokémon, or at least, we haven't discovered any yet. Which most people who come here from other places consider odd, to say the least.

I suppose the weirdest thing about Scotia is it isn't recognised by the Pokémon League as an official Region, yet. So we have no gyms and no Elite Four to speak of. So we don't have a massive influx of Trainers from around the world coming over to fill their Pokédex, for example. We're pretty closed off from the rest of the world, in case you haven't figured that out, already.

That said, however, we do have a tournament of our own, known as the Scotia Pokémon Classic. The first one hundred and twenty eight Trainers sign up and register their team of six Pokémon go into a single Pokémon battle. Once your team is registered, you can't change it. You're then entered into single Pokémon battles inside and outside the arena. The winners move on, the losers go home, cutting the number of trainers in half.

Sixty Four of the country's best Trainers enter into groups of four. Those four trainers face each other in a series of one-on-one contests, using only two Pokémon, with the winner earning three points. The top Trainer from each of sixteen earns a place in the Qualifying Round. In the rare case of a tie, the two Trainers must face each other again. The Winner moves on.

After that, there are sixteen Trainers left. Their names are put into a machine and are drawn randomly. Once all the names are drawn, the hardest part of the tournament begins. Each Trainer gets to choose three Pokémon to use, the eight winners move on to the quarter finals. Then they get four Pokémon, winners move on to the Quarter finals. Those Trainers get Five Pokémon, winners advance to the Grand Final, where the final two trainers get to use their whole team. The winner becomes the Scotia Classic Champion. The first Champion received an amazing Title Belt. This became the tradition of the tournament for the forty years that followed.

Now, with that part out of the way, are you sitting comfortably? With a bowl of fries and cheese? Maybe a soda, or a beer? That's good. Because it's story time, boys and girls! So reach down between your legs, ease your seat back and get ready for the most amazing cruise down Memory Lane you've ever heard. This is a story about my friends, a ten year journey and how we got to where we are today.

When I was a kid, this was always my dream.

I always wanted to get myself a partner Pokémon, go out across Scotia and catch Pokémon with my best friends: Garret, Gomez, Karhl and Marcus. The five of us called ourselves "Team Epic." We were going to enter the Scotia Pokémon Classic together. We'd support each other from the sidelines. Help each other pick Teams, based on our opponents. And the best of us would go to the final and win that belt. All the while, we'd stay true to our own personal Motto: Compete, without being competitive. Acknowledge each other. Acknowledge our opponent. And, above all else, always be Epic. That was the plan. The key word in that last sentence is "was."

The five of us were the only kids in our town, Rose Mount Town, that were interested in becoming Pokémon Trainers, at the time. We all waited for the day that Professor Pine came to visit. Professor Pine lived in his van and studied Pokémon behaviour. He also traveled from town to town, talking to everyone he could about Pokémon, and also campaigned to get the Pokémon League Officials to Recognise Scotia as an official Region. But I digress. When my friends and I went to see the Professor, he told us about the five Pokémon he brought with him: Spheal, Eevee, Gastly, Mareep and Growlithe.

I was first to choose and, for me, there was no need to think about it. Every time I saw an Arcanine, I was mesmerized. I knew that I had to get a Growlithe to get one, so I instantly picked Growlithe and named him Opie. Marcus chose Eevee, because he loved how versatile it was. His brothers both have Eeveelutions, Glaceon and Vaporeon, so he had a really good idea of how to handle one. Garret picked Mareep, for no other reason than he liked Electric Pokémon. Karhl went with Gastly, knowing that Ghost Pokémon were rare. And Gomez was left with Spheal. Which he was okay with because he wanted a water Pokémon, anyway.

The stage was set. We had our first Pokémon. It was time to travel across Scotia and catch more Pokémon. We barely spent any time in towns and cities. We would camp in forests and fields. We would fish in big rivers and drank from tiny streams. All the while, we would help each other become better Trainers, by comparing notes about strategies and moves, then battle each other to make our Pokémon stronger. We would even catch multiples of each Pokémon to try and find the best of the bunch.

When the sun went down, we would sit by the fire, eat a metric tonne of Onigiri, sausages and donuts while telling dumb stories we made up. Gomez went nuts one night, probably because of how much sugary snacks and drinks he consumed. He climbed up a tree, swinging back and forth and screaming how he, Gomez, The King of Nature, was going to win the Scotia tournament and solidify his stance as the best Trainer in Team Epic. It didn't take long for Garret to shoot him down, however, by pointing out Gomez beaten any single one of us, yet. Gomez fell from the tree. Thankfully, he landed in a pile of leaves.

Eventually, we accomplished that goal. We were about to enter the Scotia Classic but... Something didn't feel right. Although we had become great trainers, we didn't have much to show for our efforts. So we sat together and tried to come up with a plan. That's when we were rudely interrupted by a trainer from Kanto, who bragged about his gym badges, how he was a former Kanto Pokémon League Champion and how he became a Gym Leader in Viridian City. None of us minded the ego, he'd earned his place, clearly. That said, however, the "Smell ya' later" line that followed was a bit obtuse and uncalled for.

He did give us a foundation for a new plan, at least.

We all wrote notes to our families, left early in the morning (like, took an overnight bus at 1am, early) and made the trip to Glasport City, the only city with a ferry port. We decided where we were going, paid for our tickets with the money we won in Pokémon Battles, placed our left hands together, recited our Motto one last time and went our separate ways. Garret headed to Unova. Marcus left for Kalos. Gomez went to Hoenn. Karhl got on the Ferry to Sinnoh. And I took a boat to Johto.

Our new goal was a tricky task, but not impossible. We only took bare essentials and our Starter Pokémon. We could only catch Pokémon we didn't already have, challenged the gym leaders, earned the badges, leave without challenging the Elite Four and move on to the next region, depositing all our Pokémon, except our Starter, when we make port. Lather, Rinse, Repeat, until we earned all the badges, then come home to take part in the Scotia Classic.

Fast forward to a week ago. Nearly ten years have passed, since that day. I'm definitely a little wiser from my travels (but just a little). I accomplished the goal. Forty eight Gym Badges in possession and I have the best team I've ever had. My entry battle was way too easy (Top percentage Ratatta? Really?). Anyway, My group Stage was hardly a cakewalk, mind you. Especially with trainers coming from all other regions. I got May from Hoenn, Serena from Kalos and Hugh from Unova. As good as it was to catch up with them, I had to put them out of this tournament to move on.

Thank Arceus that part is out the way. Now, I have the hardest part of the tournament to focus on. I haven't seen the guys yet, but I know we're all in the top sixteen. I heard over the tannoy that Gomez eliminated last years champion in the qualifying rounds. It seems we've all grown stronger since we went our separate ways. I'm not a stupid kid, anymore. I know I'm in for the greatest challenge of my life as a Pokémon trainer. Team Epic both is, and isn't, a team.

This is going to be interesting. I know we'll continue to support each other from the sidelines, but that's it. We've prepared our teams in secret, to prepare for the inevitable event that we'll have to face each other. We're best friends, and will continue to be after this is over. But we're also competitors. If we have to face each other, we're not going to hold back. This is one of most overused Cliches ever, but, we're going to give it our all, and then some more. No matter who our opponent is.

I also heard over the tannoy that there was a package for me at the information desk. I got over there and the woman smiled at me. "This is the fifth package I've given to a returning hometown hero today." She said to me. I told her that I think I know the other four, thanked her for getting this to me and opened it. Inside the box was a short sleeve black shirt with a huge knitted patch on that covered ninety per cent of the back. The design was pretty appropriate, too: a Quick Ball and an X made of fire behind it. Below it was my name. Above it was the words "Team Epic." A smaller version of the same patch was on the front chest pocket. What amazed me was the size, while a tad too big, was actually close to being a perfect fit. There was also a note wrapped up in the shirt.

"Compete, without being competitive. Acknowledge each other. Acknowledge our opponent. And, above all else, always be Epic. This was your Motto, right? We all knew you'd do this. We were upset, not to mention a little angry, you all felt you couldn't tell us, or say goodbye to us all. But we also understood how much this meant to you all. That's why we waited for you to enter the tournament to get these little gifts to you. That said, ten whole years is a long time, so you'd better be prepared for a scolding when you get home. XD

We love you. We missed you.

The mother, and supporters, of the worlds greatest team."

Geez. I hadn't even given any thought to going home. I just got off the Ferry and went to enter the tournament. It also comes as no surprise this shirt was designed this way. Opie came to me in a Quick Ball. I wonder if the other guys shirts are similarly accurate?

Oh right, I got distracted. Dammit, Mum... Anyway, this tournament means too much to me. I didn't travel through six different regions, catch and evolve over Six Hundred different types of Pokémon just to fall on my face, now. I know my friends feel the same way I do.

I think Garret said it best about our adventures, the last time we saw each other: "This truly is an epic trek."


	2. 01 We Don't Have To Dance

_(The Songfic Stuff Continues! Remember when.I said some songs were picked because I thought they'd sound cool? This is one of those moments. The song We Don't Have To Dance by Andy Black, to me, sounds like the kind of generic Rock song you would hear at a tournament, when names are being drawn. Anyway, enough from me, your storyteller and editor in chief, lol. ON WITH THE STORY!)_

Chapter 1. We Don't Have To Dance

As Seth stepped out of a changing room, wearing the new Team Epic shirt his Mother made for him, he looked around for his friends. He wanted to catch up with at least one of them before the draw began. Although he didn't find another Team Epic member, he did find a good friend. A blond girl in a pink hat, black shirt, red skirt, black stockings and black shoes. He knew who that was, immediately."Serena!" He shouts, trying to get her attention.

Serena looks around and spots him immediately. Black Fedora, long brown hair, leather wristbands, black leather belt with a chain hanging from it, blue jeans and big black boots. She smiled real big as she walked over to him. "You haven't changed a little bit, Seth." She giggled "Congratulations on making it to the top sixteen!"

"Thanks!" He said, tipping his hat a little. "And thank you for giving me a challenge. I need people who can up the difficulty everytime I go out there." He pauses for a moment and laughs a little bit. "I have to admit, I didn't expect you to bring your Mega Lucario! That threw me for a loop! Again!"

Serena starts laughing with him. She hadn't laughed like that in a while. "Well, what did you expect? I wanted to surprise you!" She told him excitedly. Serena realised it had been quite a while since she saw Seth. They'd been friends since the day they met. "How long has it been, Seth? It feels like forever since we laughed together like this."

Seth pauses for a moment, putting his open right hand on his chin, to think about this. He started his journey in Johto, then went to Kanto, from there. Kalos was his next destination. "Let's see, now... Eight years, I reckon. It has been a long time." He smiled again. "You've grown into a strong, smart, beautiful woman, if you don't mind me saying so?"

Serena was shocked by this. She blushes a little bit. "Um, th-thank you." She stutters out. "You caught me off guard, with that comment, Seth." She says, not making eye contact. Just looking at the ground. She was happy to hear a compliment. Although, that soon turned to confusion when she looked up and saw her friend laughing. "What's so funny?"

Seth composed himself quickly. "Sorry..." He said still gently chuckling. "I meant what I said, just didn't mean to embarrass you like that. That's not why I'm laughing, mind you." He adjusts and stands up straight. "I'm laughing because we seem to be in the habit of surprising each other!"

And with that, both of them start laughing loudly. A few people stop and wonder just what is going on, but ultimately, there isn't much of a reaction. Once the two had calmed down, caught their breath and wiped the tears from their eyes, Seth smiled and looked Serena in the eye. "You wanna grab a bite go eat?" He asked his friend. Serena smiled and nodded and the two walked to the nearest café they could find in the arena.

"Can you believe the price of a cup of tea?!" Serena said, with a tone of shock and disbelief. "I know to expect overblown prices in an arena as big as this, but still, One hundred and sixty two bucks for tea and a sandwich? Even that price seems a little much." She added.

Seth nodded, as he still had a mouthful of bacon. "I felt the same way about some of the cafés in Lumiouse. I get it, it's a rich persons playground, but even some of the wealthier customers were complaining about the prices." Serena giggled at Seth midway through that sentence, which left him confused. "Is something funny?"

Serena nodded a lot. "Do you remember that one café we went to, where you met Trevor, Tierno and Shauna for the first time?" She said, trying really hard not to laugh. "You and Shauna were talking about how the rich get richer?"

"I think so." Seth said, still perplexed by what was going on. "Wait. Yes! Yes, I remember. That was a good day! We sat, talked for hours. I remember you started laughing at us out of the blue. I thought you found our conversation hilarious, but it turned out I had a drop of sauce in the corner of my mouth." After hearing that, Serena couldn't contain herself. She burst into a fit of laughter. "Is... is it really so funny that we're reminiscing about this in another expensive Café?" He inquired.

"Well..." Serena tried to talk, but she started laughing again. Seth was really confused by this. Serena loves to laugh, he knows this. Although, she seems to be going a little overboard, for a simple stroll down memory lane. "I'm sorry Seth, but, lightning has struck twice." She said, handing her friend a napkin. Seth laughed a little bit, finally understanding what was so funny. They continued to talk for a couple of hours. Until.

"Um, excuse me? Are you... Seth?" The two look up from their conversation to see a young girl with pink hair standing at their table. She has a round face with green eyes. She's wearing a bright pink shirt with a bandolier that holds her Poké balls. She has black skinny jeans and pink workman boots. "If you are, I don't know if you remember me. It's been ten years since you last saw me. I was still young."

Seth smiled at her. "You've changed, kiddo... but yeah, I remember you." The young girl nodded, smiling. "Sit, join us. This is Serena. Serena, this is Muriel, my Step-sister." He said, as Muriel took a seat, shaking Serena's hand. "Are you in the tournament?" Seth asked.

Muriel nodded. "Yup! I got through to the Top Sixteen." She said with a sense of pride. "Although... that's not the only reason why I wanted to see you." Muriel's tone changed, almost immediately, from happy and upbeat, to sad and disheartened. "I'd stay away from Kassi, if I were you. She knows you're here and she's mad."

Serena looked puzzled at Muriel, before turning to Seth. "Who is Kassi?" She asked, innocently. She'd been sitting aside, letting her friend catch up with his little sister, smiling the entire time. However, this Kassi character worried her, for some reason she didn't quite understand. "Is she a threat to you, in this tournament?"

Seth shook his head. "She's the middle child of the family. A fine trainer. Everyone in the family is, apparently." He said looking at Muriel, who beams under the praise. "She's headstrong, for sure, but not dangerous." The conversations was interrupted by the Tannoy system.

"Attention! The draw for the next stage will begin in the arena in 10 minutes. All top sixteen competitors are required on the battle ground."

Seth and Muriel stand up promptly. "Sorry Serena, gotta run. Literally. I'll meet you back here, later?" Seth asks, quickly. Serena stands and nods, taking off in the opposite direction. As they run towards the battlegrounds of the Arena, Muriel looks at Seth, perplexed and confused. "I know what you're thinking. She's not my girlfriend."

The arena battleground has sixteen different entrances. Each trainer that makes it to the top sixteen is given a number and they head to the corresponding entrance way. On the battleground, the Head of the Scotia Pokémon Classic Comitee, Mr. Keyes, and Professor Pine stand at a table with a computer with a Random Number Generator. The computer draws the numbers and the trainers walk out from the assigned entrances. Seth was given number thirteen. As he's standing in the entrance way, he snorts and leans against a wall, waiting for the door to open. "Well, I got the unluckiest number, according to superstition. Let's see where this takes me." He says to himself. As he says that, music starts playing and crowd screams into life. "Here we go."

"WELCOME, EVERYONE, TO THE SCOTIA POKÉMON CLASSIC!" A familiar voice booms out. Professor Pine is a charismatic character. Always managing to get a crowd to cheer. "What an exciting tournament we've had, so far, right? Last years champion was knocked out in the first stage! And we have five, FIVE returning Scotia locals, who've experienced an extraordinary ten year journey." The Professor excitedly squeeked out. Even Seth remembers how over the top she can be.

"Well, enough of that. You all want to find out who will be facing who in the tournament, right!?" The crowd errupts. Professor Pine smirks. "Mr. Keyes... LET'S HIT THAT BUTTON AND FIND OUT WHO'S IN THE FIRST MATCH!" Mr. Keyes nods and starts the Random Number Generator. There's an tense silence that falls over the crowd. The computer starts to slow down. And then, it stops.

"And the first Trainer to come out is NUMBER THIRTEEN! SETH SKYHART!" Seth walks out of the entrance way takes a stand at th left side of the announcers podium. He raises his fist to the sky and looks around the arena. He spots Serena instantly. Kind of difficult not to. Sitting right next to Serena is a face he hasn't seen a long time: his Mother. She still has the same warm smile he remembers from when he was eleven years old.

"Get ready, Seth, because you're opponent is going to be..." Professor Pine calls, looking at the computer. It stops on Number Eight. "Well then. It looks like our opening contest is going to be Sibling Rivalry, as Seth takes on His sister Kassi Skyhart!" The crowd falls silent in shock. Seth hadn't seen Kassi in ten years. She walks out towards the podium in a black vest top, red flaired trousers, black wrist bands, a short red scarf and a red pauldron on the right shoulder. The look on her face tells a story of anger. As the two walk down the middle ramp leading out of the arena, not a single look was exchanged.

"Well, that was... Intense. Shall we see who's next?" Mr Keyes asks the crowd, who cheer in kind. The computer fires up again and stops. "Number One! That number belongs to Sienna Hart!" Upon hearing that, Sienna bursts through the door and heads towards the podium with a sense and style of her own. Black hair with blue and purple streaks. Bright Blue eyes meet a mile long smile. Her choice is a black dress that stops and the knees, a Pink belt loaded with six love balls, knee high boots and arm bands that reach from shoulder to wrist.

"And her opponent shall be... Number Nine. Brook Prichard!" Mr. Keyes shouts. Dressed from head to toe as the typical cowgirl, riding her Rapidash towards the podium, this ginger haired Pokémon Trainer is fairly well known, judging by the loud reaction and the signs in the crowd.

Professor Pine takes centre stage once more. "Contest number three will pit... Donal Marx against... Garret Snyder!" At that moment, Seth turned and faced the nearest monitor. There he was. Big hair, aviator sunglasses, tiger print trousers and handmade Team Epic shirt, complete with custom logo with an Ultra Ball and crossed Lightning Bolts. One could never accuse Garret of being unable to stand out. Ever.

"Is he part of the team?" Serena asked Seth, who turned to face her with a smile and a single nod of his head. Serena smiled back. "One down, three to go. I know I can't wait to meet your friends, but you must be brimming with anticipation at the thought of catching up with them, right?" She asked. Seth couldn't find the words. He just nodded and faced the monitor, visibly shaking with anticipation, waiting to see the rest of the team, his friends, who he hasn't seen in a long time, had made it this far.

Karhl Von Rais was next to be announced. He's taking on someone called Spike Riley. Marcus Briggs is taking some Viking looking guy named Samson Lorenian. Bodag Dain, an up-and-coming Pokémon trainer, rated very highly by the likes of Lance, Diantha and Professor Birch, to name a few, will be taking on one of Brothoc City's favourite Trainers, Kellan Dryden. Flora Wyldes, a young lady with a large following of fans, was matched up against last years runner up: Solas Nel. Which left match eight. Mr. Keyes is ready to make the final announcement.

"And that leaves just two. The first being the newest trainer from the Skyhart family: Muriel!" The crowd explodes as Muriel makes a slow, timid approach to the podium. "And her opponent. Is a trainer who has traveled around the world. His name... is... "Gomez McQueen!" The crowd explodes again. The Team Epic shirt with a Net Ball and crossed icicles, matched with boot cut jeans and workman boots.

"Well then..." Seth said still looking at the tv. "Looks like it's going to be a lively tournament." He added, still barely containing his excitement. Serena takes a few steps forward to stand next to him. His composure is admirable, but she just wishes he'd let it out. Even when he turns to face her with only half the smile a man in his position should have. "I hope you're ready for this, Serena." She nods at him, her infectious smile bringing more of that contained joy in his face.

"Personally, I hope you're ready to see this arrogant tool eliminated in the first round." A voice from behind them calls out. They turn to see Kassi staring them down. "I'm sorry, it's Serena, right? You'd be best knowing what this shallow little boy left behind. A crying Mother. A disappointed Father. And then there's his two sisters, who he made a promise to. A promise to help us both become better trainers." Kassi said with very obvious tones of spite and anger. "But no. Instead, he left us all, his family, to go on a pointless journey with his stupid friends to, apparently, become a better Pokémon trainer." She paused briefly to look her brother in the eye. "I hope that you understand you betrayed everyone you know? You, Karhl, Garret, Marcus and Gomez are not welcome in Scotia anymore. So why don't you do yourself, your stupid team, this girl and everyone else here a massive favour: forfeit. Bow out of this tournament, get on a boat and leave, Seth. You have nothing here. No friends. No family. Nothing."

All Serena could do was look on in shock. How anyone can say anything like that to their family is disgusting. Kassi actually made her angry. She looked over at Seth, and saw him smirking at her. He even laughed a little bit. "You never change, little sister. I'm glad Mum isn't here to listen to you say that. That would break her heart more than my ten year journey ever could." Kassi looked at him in anger. "Go ahead, keep scowling at me. I'm not phased by you. I know I'm right about Mum and Dad, too. They met doing what I did: leaving their families behind to go on a Pokémon adventure." Seth calmly put across to her. "You're right about one thing, though. I did promise you and Muriel that I would help you both become better trainers. I only hope you passed on the one and only bit of help I gave you, when you got your Bagon, to Muriel: Your Pokémon aren't tools. They aren't pets and they aren't status items. They're your friends. Your family. You treat them the same way you treat anyone close to you."

As Seth said that with a fire in his eyes that his little sister hadn't seen in a long time, all she could do was grunt and clench her fist. Seth responded with a smile and a sudden change to a much more gentle, cheeky demeanour. "I'll take that response as a no, then. Well, never mind. Your hatred of me hasn't affected her. Muriel's a bright kid, I'm sure she worked it out." Seth said walking past her, stopping so he and Kassi were no longer facing each other. "I'm looking forward to facing you. But don't go thinking I'm going to be a pushover. Oh, and never tell me I don't have a family. All you're going to do with that kind of attitude is fire me up and fight even harder, just to show you what you're trying to deny: I'm still your Big Brother."

And with that, Seth adjusted his hat and walked away. Serena followed, slowing down very briefly to look back at Kassi, who's staring at a Poké ball, muttering something to it. She turned to face Seth again, who seemed to be laughing inwardly. "Sorry about that..." He said to Serena. She looked puzzled by this sudden apology. It did come from out of the blue, to be fair. "You didn't need to see that little family drama play out in front of you like that." He said, looking her right in her eyes.

Serena tipped her head slightly, closed her eyes and smiled. "You don't need to apologize for Kassi. I'm sure she'll come around and say sorry, eventually." She beamed. "Besides, I'm sure most of that anger is just the heat of the competition." She said, giggling slightly.

Seth and Serena continued to walk and talk for about an hour. They got more tea from one of the café's, met some of the competitors in the top sixteen even played all the silly arcade games. When it was all said and done, they wound up at the entrance to the arena. Still smiling at each other.


	3. 02 Starlight

_(Here we go again! So, this song, Starlight by Slash feat. Myles Kennedy is the perfect fit for me, personally. Whenever I hear this particular song, I think back to the fun times I had with my friends. There's something about the lyrics and how melllow and laid back the rest of the song is. It's hard for me to put into words. Watch out for one particuafr character quoting lyrics from the song.)_

Chapter 2. Starlight.

As Seth is about to take Serena's hands, the pair are interrupted by a voice, and a line that he remembers all too well.

"Compete, without being competitive..." He hears behind him. He looks round to see a tall man, wearing jeans, boots, glasses, a black trilby hat, glasses and a Team Epic shirt with a Friend Ball in front of crossed Eevee tails, walking towards him, with an Espeon by his side. This is the man he knows as Marcus Briggs.

"Acknowledge each other..." Says a voice to his left. Seth sees a shorter man with black hair with the fringe covering his right eye. Wearing all black everything, beside a Gengar. His Team Epic Apparel is different: a leather waistcoat with the logo only present on the back. The logo being of a Dusk Ball on front a crossed pair of ghostly arms. Karhl almost looks like he hasn't aged.

"Acknowledge our opponent..." Comes from the right. Seth and Serena turn to see Garret casually leaning against a soda machine, with his Ampharos at his side.

"And, above all else..." comes from a set of stairs behind Serena. The pair turn to see Gomez standing on the last two steps, nonchalantly hurling his Net Ball into the air, releasing Walrein.

Seth smirks and releases Opie from his Quick Ball. "... Always be Epic. That stopped being a motto and became more of a Creed that we live by, hasn't it, boys?" He looks around at the friends he hasn't seen in ten years and smiles. This closely followed by a slight snickering. "Guys, how many times did you rehearse that?!" He asks, bursting into a fit of laughter. Which starts everyone else off.

Everyone except Serena, of course, who shrugs and tips her head to the right. "Creed? Motto? Um, Seth, Can you fill me in on what's going on, please?" She asks. Seth recovers and explains what she just heard. She nods and smiles, even let's out a little giggle. "Sorry everyone. I'm Serena. I met Seth when he came to Kalos eight years ago.

"Nice to meet you, Serena. I'm Marcus" he says, stepping forward to shake her hand. "And this is my Espeon, Karina." She shakes his hand, and then pets Karina. Karina responds with a happy squeek. As Serena goes round meeting each member of Team Epic and their Pokémon, she looks back at Seth, who seems to be smiling more and more with each hand shake. As she walks over to pet Ampharos, she feels close to the group. Closer to Seth. This moment is ruined by a question from behind her.

"So, Seth, is this lovely lady your girlfriend, or what?" Garret asks without a care in the world. Serena suddenly stood bolt upright, like a Thundershock shot right down her back. She didn't want to face anyone, she could feel her cheeks going red. She couldn't understand who would ask such an embarrassing question, after knowing someone for barely a minute.

Seth wasn't exactly keeping cool, either. "Dude, really?" Seth's question was met with a smirk from Garret. All he can bring himself to do is sigh and shake his head simultaneously. "You'll never change, Garret." He said, still shaking his head, walking towards Serena. "And no, Serena is not my girlfriend. We're just friends." He added. The boys laugh at Seth and Serena before they're interrupted by an announcement over the Tannoy system.

"Attention all trainers and spectators. The arena will be closing in thirty minutes. Please make your way to the nearest exit." Everyone looks around for a nearby exit, not seeing one. Karhl whistles at the group, pointing his thumb at an exit between him and his Gengar. They all nod and leave.

As they continue to walk, the group hear Garret talking behind them. "All right everyone. We're all walking away from the Scotia Classic Arena!" They all stop and turn to see that he has a video camera out, which he's now pointing at the rest of the group. "Team Epic is back together! We're all going in to the Scotia Classic Tournament together, but only ONE of us can walk out with that belt! So let's reintroduce the gang to you all, I'm G. Snyder and this is my Ampharos named Shyamalan!" Shyamalan bounces and let's out an excited Bleet. "Who wants to be the next duo introduce themselves?"

"Okay, sure. I'll go next." Marcus says as he steps forward. "I'm Marcus Briggs, and this is my friend Karina!" Marcus sounds off, raising his fist to the sky and Karina leaps up into the air and squeeks.

"The name's Karhl Von Rais. This guy right here is my Gengar named Ecto. We thrive on competition." Karhl calmly puts across, sitting on a rock that Ecto, who let's out a chilling slow gasp, is leaning against.

"I'm Gomez McQueen! The King of Nature! And this Walrein that I'm leaning against is my buddy! His name is Neptune! And we're ready to rip through the competition!" Gomez yells, which is followed by Neptune, who also yells.

"I guess that just leaves us..." Seth says, briefly pausing to look at his Arcanine, then looking back at the camera. "I'm Seth Skyhart. This is my partner Opie. And along with our friends in Team Epic, we're one of the best teams in this tournament." Opie looks up to the orange sky of the sunset and howls.

Garret smiles, swinging the camera back to face him. "Yeah, it's been ten years since we last saw each other. Heck, it's been ten years since we've set foot in Scotia. This is not just a reunion, it's a homecoming!" He says emphatically. He then looks to his right side. "Oh! I almost forgot, we have a new member of the team and she hasn't introduced herself. How about you tell the world of Social Media who you are?!" Garret asks as he slowly pans the camera round to face Serena.

Serena is taken aback by this and doesn't quite know how to react to this. "Oh, uhh... Hi? I'm Serena and I- wait. I'm now a member of Team Epic?" She asks. It seems odd to her that she'd been accepted so quickly. But as she looks around and the guys are nodding at her. She smiles widely and turns to face the camera again. "Okay, well, I'm from Vaneville town, which is in the Kalos Region. And my partner is this little lady!" she adds, throwing a Pokeball up and releasing her Braixen.

Seth looks on at Serena, while she continues to talk to the camera, smiling warmly. He always did like seeing Serena happy. Seeing Serena filled with joy made him feel amazing. He remembers when they first met, how they smiled and laughed after their first battle. And how they laughed when he went flying over the front of his bike, outside Cyllage City. How he felt seeing her so happy then is how he feels now. Then something hits him like a Geodude using Rock Throw. "Hey guys... Where are we sleeping tonight?" There's a sudden, awkward silence that falls over the group.

Gomez looks at the group in shame and walks towards the camera. "Guys, come on. We're Pokemon Trainers. We'll camp! The forest we used to go adventuring in is down the road from here. We all have tents, don't we?" He asks loudly. Everyone nods, except for Serena, who looks down at the ground, holds her hands behind her back and taps the tip of her left shoe on a paving stone. "Welp, looks like you're sharing with Seth, then!" He exclaims, laughing uproariously. Everyone joins in the laughter, except for Seth, who looks down at the ground while shaking his head again, and Serena, who goes bright red in the face and turns away from the group.

Garret brings the laughter to a slow halt. "Okay. I guess now, we have a destination that we're heading to, right?" The group responds by nodding at him and they all start walking again. Garret turns the camera to face himself once more. "Alright, well, it's been a while since I've said this but, we will join you later, as we survive..." He raises his left hand into the cameras view, flicking his fingers back and forth. "IN THE WILDERNESS!" He turns the camera round to face the rest of the team, who are all doing the same motion with their left hands. Except Serena, who laughs and shrugs.

A few hours later, they've set up camp. The guys are sitting around the campfire, toasting sausages on sticks and drinking bourbon and coke. Serena pops out of Seth's tent wearing a pink onesie, smiling as she sits between Garret and Karhl. Seth winks at her in an exaggerated way that makes her laugh. She listens to everyone exchanging the stories of their travels, the Pokémon they caught and the people they met along the way.

Garret hits record on his camcorder and points it at the group. "We have set up Base Camp in the wilderness. Ironically, in the same place we trained before we started our adventure ten years ago. So, now seems like a good time to ask everyone what their favourite part of their adventure was." Garret exclaimed.

For Karhl, there was no second thought. "In Johto, I worked with The Dragon Master known as Lance. We took down a Team Rocket Operation together." The gang look impressed by this feat. "But that's a long story. Marcus, you should go next. What did you enjoy the most about your adventure?"

"Too easy. It was Karina evolving into Espeon, right when I needed her to." Marcus says while stroking Karina, who lets out a little squeek. "We were about to take on Brawly in the Hoenn Region, and after a battle with a random Trainer, she evolved into what you see now... hey, Cameraman Snyder, what about your good self?"

Garret turned the camcorder to face himself. "Well, I think I'm going to go with an event that happened to, in the Hoenn Region, too. The moment when myself and Shyamalan achieved Mega Evolution!" Seth nods in approval of hearing this. "How about you, oh mighty King of Nature? What you consider to be your crowning achievement?"

Gomez takes a quick sip from his drink. "I trained with Sinnoh Champion Cynthia. I learned a hell of a lot from her, too. She made me a great Pokemon Trainer from the good Trainer I once was." There was a stunned silence from the group. "Yeah, and I guess Seth's favourite involves Serena, in some manner. Why don't you tell is how you two met?"

Serena stands up and points at the sky, excitedly, ready to tell the story."It was on Route four, on the way to Lumiose City! I saw Seth looking at the big fountain there, with Opie, and challenged him a battle!" She shouts. Seth smiles and nods, trying not to laugh, because he knows what's coming next. "He beat me very quickly." She adds quietly, sitting down again. The two of them laugh together for a short time.

"We decided to travel across Kalos together from that point." Seth added, taking a sausage from the fire. "Serena's great! The two of us trained together, made strategies for the gyms, we even beat Team Flare together." Seth says with a mouthful of food. "She made a deal with me that we would face each other after she became Champion. She won that match against me. I was a little surprised by the Mega Lucario she was packing. Almost caught me out with it again, in this tournament."

Serena giggled, grabbing a sausage on a stick and pointing at her friend "Yeah, but it didn't, you did end our best of three series." She said, then taking a bite of the sausage. She pauses for thought, then a lightbulb goes off in her head and she grabs Garrets camera and points it at the group. "Hey, it's been ten years, right? You should compare Pokedexes to see who caught the most Pokémon!" The boys nod and pull out there Dexes. "Garret, you should go first!"

Garret looks at his Pokédex, and his eyes widen. "Uhh, wow, okay. So I have a lot more than I first thought." He says, laughing right into the camera. "I have six hundred and twenty two Pokemon! How do you like that!?" He yells.

Karhl sighs loudly, rubbing his forehead. "Beats me. I have six hundred and one. I'll just sit here and wait for the rest of the results." He says, regaining the smirk he had from earlier in the day. "The only consolation is that I can pretty much guarantee I'm not coming in last place, here." Serena nods as she points the camera at Gomez.

"Well, Karhl Von Rais, it doesn't look good for you, right now..." He pauses dramatically, closing his Pokédex with a loud, audible click. "I have six hundred and twenty three." There's a solid stare down between Garret and Gomez for about half a minute, before Gomez leaps on to the log he was sitting on, raises his arms, looks up to the night sky and screams "I AM THE KING OF NATURE! THE MOST POWERFUL POKEMON TRAINER IN THE WORLD!" When he looks back down, Garret is eating a sausage without a care in the world. Gomez grunts and everyone laughs.

"Well okay, it's my turn, I suppose." Seth says, opening his Pokédex and tapping a couple of buttons. "Let's see. I have Six Hundred and twenty four!" Seth stands on the log he was standing on, pointing at Gomez. "Take a seat, my friend! I am the single greatest Pokemon hoarder on this planet!" He shouts, before suddenly realizing Marcus hadn't given his total, and sits down again. "Sorry Marcus, that line was reserved for you."

Marcus chuckles at his friend. "Oh, no, don't be so silly, man! I have five hundred and ninety five." He said. Seth jumps back on the log and dabs upon hearing this news. Garret and Gomez simply sigh at the sight of this, while Serena giggles behind the camera and Karhl, simply, doesn't react. "... 'kay, now you're overdoing it a bit, dude." Marcus adds. Seth shrugs, while still maintaining his dab pose.

Serena hands the camera back to Garret, who continues to point the camera at Seth. "Quit dabbing, you ponce, you're not fifteen years old." He says loudly. Seth breaks and sits down, sniggering a little. Garret turns the camcorder to face himself. "Yes, that's better. Anyway, tonight, in the distance, light years from tomorrow, the starlight shines down, showing us the place where we belong. That place is right here. Tomorrow, we're back in the saddle, taking part in the Scotia Pokemon Classic. So, from us, it's good night and happy training." Garret says, as he switches off his camera.

Karhl takes one last gulp of his drink, throws his plastic cup on the fire and stands up. "Well guys, this was good. After ten long years, I feel this was necessary." He says, before giving a big long stretch. "However, I am very tired, so I'm signing off for the night. Garret, beautiful speech, as always. Looking forward to hearing what you have to say tomorrow, when our good buddy takes on his little sister. Until tomorrow, guys." He adds, waving as he climbing into his tent.

"Until tomorrow, brother!" Gomez adds enthusiastically, before turning to Seth. "How are feeling about tomorrow, dude? I know taking on Kassi won't be easy, for you." He asked his friend who, to his surprise, starts laughing. "Okay I'm assuming you ran into her, then?" He inquires.

Seth nods, turning a little to stroke Opie, who lets out a happy sigh. "Oh yeah, I saw her, alright. Apparently I'm not welcome in Scotia, anymore. None of are, in fact. According to little sis, we stabbed everyone we know in the back, when we left." Seth said, still kind of laughing as he talked. "This is what she does, now that I think about it." He adds, taking a sip of his drink. "She says stuff like this in order to try and throw me off my game. She should have learned, by now, that simply doesn't work and it never will."

As he says this, Marcus stands up and starts walking passed Seth to get to his tent."I'm sure she'll come around dude. Just give her time." He reassures Seth, putting his hand on his friends shoulder. "Anywho, my dreams are calling and I need to answer. Until tomorrow, brother." He says, continuing to walk to his tent.

"Until tomorrow, dude." Seth says, waving without turning to face him. Seth finds himself in deep thought. He's been trying to plan for his match against Kassi. That's kind of difficult thing to do, when he only knows one Pokemon she's going to bring. So he can't focus on that, at all. "You know what guys? I'm gonna call it. I'll see you tomorrow." He said. Getting up and heading toward the tent, stroking Opie on the way. "You're on guard duty, buddy. Good night." He says to his friend, who responds with a gentle nuzzle before laying down beside the tent just as Seth climbs in and zips it shut.

Gomez and Garret look up and wave at him. "Until tomorrow, brother." Gomez says to him. He waits for Seth to enter his tent and then looks to Serena. "He's changed. I'm not sure why, but I'm willing to bet you have something to do with it." He said, smiling at her. "I have to be honest, I worried about Seth. The thought of him traveling alone. He was never the most outgoing person, outside of Pokemon battles, really." He added, looking over at Garret.

"You're a good girl, Serena." Garret said happily. "Being around you makes him a different person. More driven. More focused." He adds, finishing his Bourbon and coke. "This is why you're a part of the team, now. You looked after one of our own. Now, we'll look after you."

Serena smiles, even blushes, under the praise. She nods happily, having trouble finding the words to say. Gomez stands up and starts to walk towards his tent. He stops to looks Serena. "I can see why he likes you, you know?" She tips her head slightly, looking bemused at that question. Gomez finishes his drink and, in similar manner to Karhl, throws his plastic cup onto the fire and stands up, stretching in the process. "Well, I'm sure you'll figure it out. You're a smart woman. And with that, I'm off to pit. G'night, guys."

"Until tomorrow, Gomez." Serena cheerfully chirps at him. Gomez doesn't turn around. He simply waves and closes his tent behind him. Serena listens to the sounds around her. She hears sharp whistling amongst the trees. A lot of it. "Are those Noctowl, Garret? I've never heard so many in one place before."

Garret nods, with a slight on his face. "Yeah, they sure are plentiful in these parts, at this time of night. It's all Pidgey when the sun rises." He says, pouring a drink for him and Serena. Serena takes the drink, thanking Garret, who has a very serious look on his face. "What happens to you after the tournament, Serena? Where do you go?"

Serena looks down at her drink. She hadn't really thought about that. Up until now, she'd just been enjoying herself, meeting new people, hanging out with Seth. "... I don't really know, to be honest. I guess I just head back to Kalos." She said, feeling uneasy and really sad, all of a sudden. "What I'll do after that, however..."

"Okay, well, how about this for an idea?" Garret said, sharply. "Come with us. Myself and Marcus are heading to a region that's filled to the brim with new Pokemon, as well as regional variants of well known ones. We plan to take Seth there, regardless of weather he becomes champion or not." Garret pitches to Serena. Who looks up from her drink, smiling a little bit, before taking a gulp of it. Garret downs his all at once. "You don't have to, of course. I just wanted to put the idea, in your head." He adds, confidently.

Serena nods and finishes her drink, feeling better, after hearing she could go on another adventure with Seth and her new friends. "Thanks you, Garret. I'll think about that. I'll see you in the morning." She says, getting up to head to Seth's tent.

Garret nods at her waits for her to climb into the tent. He smirks a little before he pours some water on the camp fire. "Hmph. You'd better be grateful, buddy." He murmers to himself, before climbing into his tent.

The next morning, Seth woke to find a sleeping Serena close to him. He notices she smiles when she's sleeping. "Cute." He whispers to himself and sits up. He can smell something cooking, as well. "One of the lads got up early..." he says under his breath as he crawls out of the tent.

Who he sees cooking breakfast isn't a Team Epic member. Instead, he see's an older woman with red hair, wearing jeans and a bright red jumper, sitting in front of the fire, frying eggs, bacon and sausages. "Good morning, Son." She says, softly, with a big smile.

"Morning... Mum." He says quietly, partly because he's surprised his Mother came out here at all, never mind to cook breakfast. Partly because his throat is really dry. He grabs a tin cup and sits in front of the fire, pouring some water out of a cannister nearby. "I guess I should apologize for not coming home, huh?"

Ailine shakes her head slowly. "No. You're sister made it very clear to me you wouldn't be coming home." She said, proceeding to tell him all that happened. "Your Sister hated the fact that you left. She kicked up all kinds of anger towards you. Despite that, she continued to train the way you did. I think her anger started as a sort of coping mechanism. Now, though, it's made her a jaded young lady. So yes, I understand why you didn't come home. So does your Dad. He knows if you went there, she would've come over and started a one woman riot."

Seth nodded slowly. He didn't want to believe it, and yet he knew, from the events of yesterday, Kassi was mad at him for coming home. "Thank you. For understanding." He said, staring into his water, looking at the very serious expression on his face. "Don't suppose you have any hints for how I can beat her, do you?" He asks while lifting his head, trying to crack half a smile, at least.

"Well... Don't go Opie versus Salamence. She's prepared for that." His Mum says to him, stroking Opie under his chin. "My best suggestion would be to pick Pokemon who don't directly match up to hers. No strengths or weaknesses." Seth feels determined after hearing that. It's written all over his face, which makes his Mother very happy. "Don't thank until you beat her. I know I shouldn't have favourites in this match, but someone has to teach my Daughter a lesson. I believe that person should be her big Brother."

"Oh! Good morning Mrs. Skyhart." Says Karhl as he rises from his tent. "Sorry! It's Ms. Cage, now. It's been ten years now." He adds, correcting himself as he releases Ecto. "We're off to do some last minute training. Save me some Breakfast, would you?" He asks Seth, who doesn't respond, really. He simply gives him a very cheeky look. Karhl sighs loudly "Right, no promises, gotcha. Later." He says before running off into the deeper part of the woods.

As Seth and his Mother catch up on ten years of lost time, the rest of the team get up, eat and go off somewhere to train. Serena finally pops out of the tent, dressed and ready for the day, at that moment, stretching and yawning, simultaneously, before noticing Seth talking to someone she'd never seen before. "You must be Serena, yes?" The woman asks her. Serena nods slowly, still unsure what to say. "I'm Seth's mum. You can call me Ailine. I'm so sorry my daughter was so rude to you, the other day."

Serena feels nervous, at first. She just crawled out of her son's tent. What must she think? "Oh, don't worry. Seth and I met much ruder, when we journeyed across Kalos together." Ailine looks quizically at her. "I meant Team Flare. We stopped Team Flare together." She added. Ailine looks at her son a little angrily.

Seth gives her a blank expression. "You stopped Team Rocket in Kanto, some time ago, if I recall?" He questions. Ailine shrugs and serves a plate of breakfast to Serena. Seth stands up, suddenly, and looks right at Opie, who walks over to him. "We're going to go for a run. Give you two a chance to get to know each other."

Serena and Ailine nod at him, and the pair watch him jog off with his partner, smiling. "Serena, can you help me pack the boys stuff? I'm sure they'll just want to head to the Arena as soon as they get back, don't you?" Serena nods and starts at Seths tent. As they're packing the gear, Ailine turns to look at Serena. "Okay, so I figured you don't have your own tent with you, but, how close are you to my son, exactly?" She asks suddenly with a super serious tone.

Serena stands bolt upright. She does this everytime someone asks a question like this. Why, though? She keeps thinking back what Gomez said last night. Seth likes her? Did he mean anything by that? Or did he simply mean Seth likes her as a friend? Meanwhile, as thinking about this, His Mother his patiently waiting for an answer. "We... We're just friends." She finally stutters out.

Ailine tips her head to the side and raises an eyebrow. "Is that all?" She asks with a quizical tone. Serena nods quickly. "Interesting..." She adds as pours cold water onto the fire. "If you're the same girl from Kalos he talked to me about over the internet while he was traveling, he talked about you a lot. Even after he left Kalos to continue his journey. I think he really likes you, but is too shy to say anything." Ailine says to her.

Serena giggles a little bit. She thinks she understands what Gomez meant, now. "You mean under that cool exterior, he's really a shy guy?" She asks her friends Mum. Ailine laughs with her for a bit. "I'm sorry, he's your Son, I shouldn't make fun of him."

"No, no, go ahead. I think it's great he's found someone he likes." Ailine responds, still kind of laughing. "You know, if you were any other girl, I think he would have paid for a room for you. Because his tent was always his personal space." She added. "When me and his Dad, Hador, split up, he took it pretty bad. Even more so when Hador came home with the woman who is Muriels Mother. They didn't have enough space, so he slept in his tent. Lived in that tent, in fact. And no one else was allowed in. Not even me."

Serena suddenly felt her heart sink. Seth had never talked about his family, even when she asked him. He would always tell her they weren't that interesting, or something else along those lines. She understood now. He didn't talk about them because he didn't want to be sad around her. "So, is that the reason why he wanted to do this Epic Pokemon Journey?" She asked solemnly.

Ailine nodded. "It was one factor. Another was that he felt Scotia was too small. He wanted to see the world. But he also wanted space from everyone he knew. Give himself time to think." The more Ailine talked about Seth's past, the sadder she felt. "Looks like you care about him?" She asks Serena.

Serena just nods. And then it hits her. She cares about Seth. She likes Seth. She likes him a lot. She feels warm inside, whenever he's around. Even more so when he smiles at her. Now all she has to do tell him that. As she's thinking about all of this, the team returns. "Welcome back guys!" She says walking towards Seth, handing him his pack. "Ready to go?" She asks Seth, smiling real big at him.

Seth smiles back at her and nods. "Yeah, we are. Thanks Serena." He puts his pack on his back and leaps onto Opie's back, offering a hand to Serena. She nods and takes his hand, leaping as Seth pulls her up. "We're going ahead. Think you guys can keep up?" At this precise moment, Ailine points at the Cart she came in on, hauled by two Tauros. Seth nods to himself as he grabs Opies mane "Cool! See you there! Hold on tight, Serena... Let's go Opie!" Opie howls and bursts forward.

Serena had a hold of Seth's waist before they even left. She holds onto him even tighter, just to be safe. Even pulls herself closer, resting her head on his back. She wants to tell Seth how she feels, but she can't find the words. She feels a little silly about that. But being close to Seth is good enough, for now.

Seth wants so badly to tell Serena he's absolutely crazy about her. Right now, though, he's got bigger problems. Kassi. He knows the key to victory. He's just gotta hope the bond between himself and his Pokemkn, as well as his Mother's strategy, are enough to carry him through. As they get closer to the arena, this feeling of doubt starts to overcome him.

"You'll be fine." He hears behind him. Serena is right there, smiling at him. "Kassi will be tough, but you'll be tougher. Team Epic is behind you. Your mother is rooting for you..." She pauses briefly to collect her thoughts. "I... I'll be there beside you. Cheering for you." She says holding him a little tighter.

Seth suddenly feels really relaxed. He takes one hand off Opie's mane and rests it where Serena's hands meet. "Thank you, Serena. You always did know how to make me feel better about myself." He says, with the special smile that he only shows her.

Once they get to the arena, they dismount. Seth calls Opie back. "I'm going to the Pokemon Centre." Seth says while scratching the back of his head. "I'll... I'll, uhh... See you after my match." He says, nodding and taking Serena's hands briefly, then runs off.

Serena smiles and puts her hand in her pocket, feeling something she forgot about. "Seth, wait!" She runs up to him, seeing him stop. She gets close to him and puts a around his neck. Hanging from this chain is a, mostly, silver coin with Xerneas etched into it. "Keep it with you. That's my way of being by your side every step of the way." She says, before wrapping her arms around him in a hug.

Seth returns the hug in kind, holding her tight for a second. "Thanks!" He whispers to her, then runs off again. No longer nervous, Seth has a plan he believes in. He has people that believe in him. He has Serena by his side. "Nothing can stop me now." He says as he gets to the Pokemon Centre inside the arena.

Serena sits between Ailine and Garret in the front row. She feels good. No, she feels great about giving Seth that pendant. "Nothing can stop him now." She says to them. She's more than ready to see him win this whole tournament.

Kassi calls Salamemce back into his Pokeball. "It's almost time, Azranahr... No one can stop us. Not my Brother. Not his stupid friends. No one in this tournament. No one." As she says this, a stone in her right glove begins to glow.


	4. 03 Been Away for Too Long

_(It's the moment you've all been waiting for; Combat! The song I chose for this is by Soundgarden. I thought it was appropriate for a couple of reasons. The first being it's an upbeat track that just works for a battle of any type. The second being related to Seth's ten year journey, leaving friends and family behind. Anyway, enjoy, boys and girls!)_

"LADIES AND GENTLEMEN! WELCOME TO THE OPENING MATCH IN THE QUARTER FINALS OF THE SCOTIA POKEMON CLASSIC!" Professor Pine yells down the microphone. A massive eruption of cheers comes from the stands. "Today, you are guaranteed to see some high class action! From rising stars, to returning veterans of the Pokemon World!"

While the Professor explains the rules, Serena surveys the scene. This arena is huge. There's thousands of people here, from all over the world, who've come to see this tournament. She can see signs in the crowd that say things like "The Tournament of all Tournaments" and "Go Solas Nel!" In fact, there are so many signs that show support for the competitors in this tournament. And they all seem to be outnumbered by the supporters of Team Epic.

"We've drawn quite a crowd, it would seem." Garret says, adjusting his glasses. "No added pressure for the rest of us, of course. In fact, this level of support for us makes it unfair for our opponents." Serena looks confused by this idea, and she turns to the rest of the group for answers. Gomez simply nods, silently. He's so focused on seeing how Seth will handle facing Kassi. As for Karhl, he simply smirks and snorts, arrogantly.

"What Garret means is, if anyone puts even one of us out of the competition, that one trainer may have to deal with a lot of verbal Backlash from our supporters." Marcus adds to Garrets point. "Of course that feat, in of itself, seems a bit unrealistic. If anyone is going to eliminate us from the tournament, it'll be each other." The boys nod in unison, at this point.

"Excuse me, but you're not that good." A random fan from behind says to them. "Sure, I know about you. Your journey is nothing short of extraordinary, but the competition here will give you a run for your money. There may even be a few trainers here that are beyond your level!" He adds, arrogantly. He flicks his hair and grabs some popcorn from a box at his feet, throwing it, casually, into his mouth. "I'll tell you what, I'll make a fun little wager with you. If Kassi beats Seth, your boy..." He pauses slowly, looking right at Serena. "... She has to go on a date with me."

Serena shudders at that prospect. "Ugh, no! If Kassi wins, we'll pay for a more expensive ticket, for you." The young man smiles at that idea. "However. When Seth wins, you'll be buying hot dogs and drinks for myself and every member of Team Epic. That includes Seth." She snaps at him. The young man sits back and nods. He smiles, and eventually laughs a little bit. "I don't know why you think this is funny."

The young man settles down a bit. "You're on. You've just shown me that you have so little confidence in your boy, that you won't risk losing and going on a date with me. I guess poor Seth really does have nothing here, afterall!" The man tries to make Serena feel bad about her choice. Serena, and the rest of the team, laugh their collective heads off.

"No, you're just not this girl's type. She's real, and not some Bot you've been flirting with online." Karhl quips. The arrogant young man snaps back into his seat, feeling deflated and embarrassed. "Yeah, I didn't think you'd have a comeback to that. So, six hot dogs, one with no onions and extra mustard, and six bourbon and cokes. Write it down, kiddo." He adds and then, like the rest of the group, turn to face the arena and Professor Pine, exchanging high fivesas they do so.

"So let's get into it shall we. The first trainer to make their entrance is a Scotia Native and a young lady who's making her Scotia Classic debut. Give it up... For KASSI SKYHART!" As soon as she hears her name called out, Kassi makes her way to the podium. The intense look on her face hasn't changed much from the other day. She's smirking confidently while she's casually throwing a Poke Ball up and down.

"And now, her opponent. Returning from a ten year journey around the world. Representing Team Epic... Ladies and Gentlemen, give a blazing hot welcome home for SETH! SKYHART!" Professor Pine yells as the crowd explodes into cheers as Seth slowly makes his way to his podium. He stops briefly, crouching down slowly then sharply, quickly rising up, throwing his arms up to the sky, holding a Net Ball in one hand, while making a too sweet gesture with the other.

As Seth turns to look at the front row, he looks at Serena, who's smiling at him real big, making the Too Sweet hand gesture. Seth smiles and winks at her, as he did last night, as their hand gestures meet. He carries on walking to his podium, making his two steps up to the podium. His confidence is matched only by his way of swaggering to the beat of a different drummer.

A referee turns on a head set and takes his place at the side of the battlefield. There's nothing distinct about him. Short black hair, striped black and white shirt, trousers and boots. He raises a flag in both hands. "Each trainer will be allowed three Pokemon, no switch outs. Are we clear?" He says with poise and authority. Kassi nods as Seth gives the ref a thumbs up

Seth smirks confidently, then he looks back at Kassi' "I've never been more prepared for a Pokemon Battle in all my life as a trainer." He says to his sibling, before pointing to her. "Ready, little sister!? Schools in session... and the Headmaster of Team Epic is running the class!" He shouts over to Kassi.

Kassi snorts angrily. "You'd better start taking me seriously, boy!" She shouts back in disdain and disgust. "Every time we battle, you treat me like I'm some sort of pushover. Well, no more! I've heard people say this may be the day I step out of your shadow. Nonsense! I've always been the one who dragged the Skyhart family wagon! You could never handle that, could you?! You threw every obstacle you could in my way! You wanted me to struggle as a trainer!" She paused briefly to collect herself. "When you left, you couldn't take the credit away from me, anymore. It was MY hard work! MY determination! MY dedication to keeping the Skyhart family name relevant in Scotia. While you ran away."

Seth sniggered "And it's your monologues that are putting me and this crowd to sleep." The crowd fell silent. In a stadium of over ten thousand people, it shouldn't be possible to hear a pin drop. Yet Seth's remark somehow managed it. "So I was right. You still don't get it. If you wanted the recognition as a great Pokemon Trainer so bad, you shouldn't have waited for me to leave." Seth's face suddenly changes. His smile is gone. "You make me so angry, you silly little brat!" His face pointed downward. His eyes close. His empty becomes a shaking, tense fist. "I did nothing to stop you! I never even tried! I did everything I could to pave the way for you and Muriel! But you never saw it that way! How could you!? Your anger and hatred blinded you!" Seth looked back up at his sister with an intensity she'd never seen from anyone before. He began to yell at Kassi "Did I make things difficult for you?! You're damn right I did! I did that because my road was difficult, too, but I persevered! I carried on down that road because it strengthened the bond I have with my Pokemon, my partner Opie and my friends!" Seth calmed down. His fist opened as he leaned forward, resting against the edge of the podium. "The path I took made me the trainer I am today. The fact that you never saw that is really saddening. It shows me that all you wanted was for someone to make it easy for you."

Serena looked at the ground as Seth snapped. She couldn't watch. She'd never seen that side of him before. She felt the uncomfortable air in the audience as Seth and Kassi layed into each other. She could feel Seth's anger and disappointment towards Kassi, like it was her own feelings. But as she looked back up, he was smiling again.

"You wanna know why I wear this smile, Kassi? It's because I earned it. I smile when I think of my own accomplishments. I hoped you'd smile with me, too." He said to her. Kassi smirked back at him, arrogantly. "You wanna know something else about this smile? It's to show you that I'm still your hardest obstacle. There's no way around me, little sister. We Skyharts don't dodge obstacles. We pummel them into the ground! And your first obstacle is Norio!" He exclaims, throwing the Net Ball he's been carrying from his hand, releasing his Galvantula. "Now, where was I? Oh yes! Here's your first lesson from the Headmaster, kiddo!"

Kassi continued to smirk at Seth, as the crowd roars back into life. "Hmph. You left and you still have the nerve to call yourself the obstacle? Tell that to Noctis." She said sneering as she threw her Poke ball, releasing a Luxray. Noctis let's out an Intimidating, almighty roar that echoes throughout the arena. A referee stands aside the battlefield, raising two flags, one red, one blue, and the bell rings, signalling the beginning of the match. "Noctis! Thunder Fang!" As Kassi yells out her command, Noctis charges at Norio. The speed he reaches is incredible, closing in Norio in almost no time, at all.

"Mistake number one, sis!" Seth announces, as this is happening. "Norio! THUNDER!" Norio charges up, unleashing a tremendous amount of electrical energy that catches Noctis head on. The light engulfs the battlefield, forcing Seth, Kassi and everyone else in the arena to cover their eyes. When it all settles down, the sight tells the whole story. Noctis is lying unconscious less than an inch away from Norio. The referee raises his blue flag and after a few seconds, a blue light come up on the scoreboard and on Seth's podium.

Kassi looks bewildered as she calls back Noctis to his Poke ball. "Come on, Kassi!" Seth shouts over to her. "You ought to know, by now, that you never charge at an opponent you know nothing about." He adds with a little tone of disappointment. "That's a rookie level error. I expected better, from you."

Kassi growls angrily "I don't CARE what you expect from me! Quit trying to teach me and start taking me seriously! GO! SABIN!" Kassi yells as she throws a Great Ball, unveiling a Zangoose. "I'm not same kid you saw before you left, you fool! I'm better than you! And to show you that, Sabin is going to squash your insect friend!" She adds loudly, pointing at Norio. "You still treat me like I'm a child. Like I'm the same kid from your memory who needs a lesson between each round of a battle. That stops now!" I'm going to show you that I'm no-!"

"STICKY WEB, NORIO!" Seth shouts, interrupting Kassi. Norio leaps into the air, shooting a large spider web that covers the floor of the battlefield, which Sabin dodges instinctively. Kassi looks over at Seth in shock and fury. Seth sighs and shrugs, simultaneously. "Well? You want to feel like I'm taking you seriously? Fine. Clamp your trap shut, quit moaning like a child about the same thing over and over again, and battle me." Seth smirks and nods at his sister. "These people came for a show, so let's give it to them!"

Kassi's expression changes to one of surprise, then one of confidence as she nods at Seth. "Sabin! Ariel Ace!" Sabin Springs to life, lunging at Norio at a speed even faster than Noctis. Ariel Ace hits Norio hard, sending him reeling backwards. Norio is hanging in there, after that blow, but that took a lot out of him. Any harder, and Norio would've hit Seth's podium, possibly incapacitating him. Serena and the Team Epic guys can't believe what they just saw.

Neither can Seth. Externally, he's maintaining his cool, but he knows he needs a new plan of attack. "Norio! Hang in there, buddy!" Seth regroups, just as soon as Norio gets off the ground. "Use Electroweb!" He commands. Norio nods and leaps into the air again, shooting a web that tangles up around Sabin's right leg.

Kassi looks confused and unimpressed. "I'm not sure what you're trying to achieve, but you're not going to succeed! Sabin! Cut!" She shouts. Sabin closes in, but he is visibly slower. So it comes as no surprise to Seth, and Seth alone, when Norio manages to Dodge. "What?! Sabin! What did you do?!" She shouts at her brother.

Seth's response is a simple smirk. "Isn't it obvious? I slowed you down." He remarks, as he adjusts his hat. "Lesson number two! Know your attacks! Sticky Web slows down my opponents, as does electroweb." As they both watch Sabin trying to strike Norio, it's starting to look like Sabin is wearing down. "Now, Norio! Bug Buzz!" Norio plants itself firmly in the ground and vibrates vigorously, releasing a wave of green energy that pulses through Sabin, shaking his worn out body in a very violent manner for almost a minute.

When the attack ends, Sabin passes out. The referee raises the blue flag again, awarding the point to Seth. Serena can barely contain herself. "This is great! Seth can get a clean sweep! One more Pokemon and Kassi is out!" She shouts excitedly. She jumps out of her seat and leans against the barricade. "Seth! Norio! Go get her!" Seth looks over to Serena and gives her a thumbs up. She smiles as she turns around to face Garret an the others, who all look concerned. "What's wrong guys?"

As they all watch Kassi call Sabin back into his Poke ball, Gomez looks up at her. "Freya." He says in a very serious tone. Serena looks confused and tips her head to the left, slightly. "The one Pokemon of Kassi's that Seth has always struggled with." Gomez adds. Serena suddenly feels concerned. She sits down again and looks back over to Seth.

Seth, for his part, doesn't look concerned. "Two to one, little sister! Let's hope you've learned, or re-learned, the lessons I taught you ten years ago." He says, playfully to Kassi. "Come on, kiddo! Bring out your best. Bring out Freya! I'll show you just how much I've learned from my round the world trip." Team Epic look on in shock. They've never heard Seth call Kassi out like that.

Kassi laughs maniacally at that suggestion. "Are you serious, big brother?! Do you remember what happens whenever Freya comes out to play?!" She says, trying to contain her laughter. She looks back at Seth, who looks incredibly serious. Kassi closes her eyes and smirks, pulling a Poke ball from "Fine. I don't know if your trip made you forget, or if you're being an idiot. But I'll indulge this foolish request! Freya! Let's go!" Kassi throws the Poke ball and reveals Freya, a Salamence that has an aura that's beyond terrifying. "Well, Seth, what do you think?" Kassi asks her brother, arrogantly.

Seth adjusts his hat and doesn't hesitate. "Electorweb, Norio!" Norio reacts just as suddenly, shooting a web that makes contact with Salamencences body. Kassi grunts at Seth, angrily. Seth just shrugs. "Well, I think Norio's Elctroweb, combined with Sticky Web, will slow Freya down quite dramatically. I think I already told you to stop talking and battling. And I think you're going down, courtesy of the Team Epic Headmaster!" The crowd erupts yet again. The Team Epic chants fill the arena.

Kassi shakes her head in disbelief. "The only thing you know is how to work the crowd. You're a Show off, nothing more. And I'm going to show that to you, now!" She yells as she points towards the battlefield. "Freya! ARIEL ACE!" Freya moves, getting right up close and smacking Norio up against the arena's back wall. Norio slides down the wall and falls onto his chest.

"Norio!" Seth exclaims. He can't help but feel shocked, as he looks at Freya. Both Electroweb and Sticky Web made their marks. Still, that Ariel Ace showed that Freya is still quick. He needs to make his next move count, as he looks back over to Norio, who struggles to get to his feet. "Let's show then what you can do, buddy! THUNDER!" Norio sparks up, again, releasing another huge bolt of electrical energy.

Kassi smirks calmly. "Dragon Claw." She says, softly. Freya charges at Norio again, going right through his electric attack, letting out a massive primal roar as her claw strikes Norio square on the head, knocking him into the ground, leaving him unconscious and unable to battle. As the referee raises his red flag, awarding the point to Kassi, Seth calls Norio back to the Net Ball. "Well, Seth? Looks like Norio is taking the nap to end all naps."

Seth puts the Net Ball on his belt. "You're still to slow. This next Pokemon is going to show you that." He adds as he pulls out a Friend Ball. Got get him, Killian!" He yells as he hurls the ball, releasing a Crobat. "Let's not waste time, Killian! Use Cross Poison!" Killian rockets forward towards Freya. He's faster than Norio, by miles. Kassi seems unphased however, as she flicks her hair, Seth notices an all too familiar glowing stone embedded in an earring. He looks again at Freya and see's a thin, black, crested collar around her neck. "Killian, pull back!"

"Too late, Seth!" She shouts as she touches the stone, which reacts with the crested collar Freya is wearing begins to glow with the earring. A cocoon of light envelopes Freya and the burst away, revealing Freya's Mega Evolution. As Killian makes contact with Freya, the Cross Poison attack seems to have done very little. "Please... That didn't even tickle. Now, Freya, Rock Slide that thing!" Freya slams the earth beneath her, causing rocks of various shapes and sizes to fly upwards, then rain down on Killian, who takes it all and faints almost immediately. The referee raises the red flag once more, awarding another point to Kassi.

"That's a problem." Garret says looking a little worried. "Freya was always a thorn in Seth's side, make no mistake about that." He adds, standing up and looking directly at Freya. "The fact that Kassi can use Mega Evolution makes her less of a threat and more of a nightmare, for Opie."

He turns round to look at Serena, who's smiling really big. "Yeah, but Freya's no threat to Seth. You'll see." She says to Garret, then turns to the arrogant young man behind them and smiles at him, trying not to laugh. "Hope you're ready to collect those hot dogs and drinks, dude?!" She says cheekily, sticking her tongue out at him. The man folds his arms and falls back into his seat.

"Well, Seth? Who's the teacher, and who's the student, now?" Kassi says, confidently. "Look, do us all a favour, would you? Either forfeit now, and save yourself the embarrassment. Or just pull out Opie and get this shambles of a battle over and done with." She adds loudly and arrogantly. "I always remember you would pull that puppy out, thinking it could beat a Dragon type. Come on! Send out Opie, so we can get this over and done with!"

Seth smiles and laughs. "Yeah, you'd like that, wouldn't you?" He says after calming down. "Lesson number three! Always expect the unexpected from Seth Freakin' Skyhart!" He shouts dramatically, pulling out a Premier Ball. "Wyatt! Show them what you got!" He throws the Premier Ball, releasing an Absol. Serena and Team Epic smile, collectively, as Kassi looks on in terror. They've all noticed the Bracer around his front left leg. Seth pulls down his sleeve, revealing a matching Bracer on his right arm. "Ready, Kassi?!" He shouts as his left hand touches the colourful stone on his Bracer. The stones on both Seth and Wyatt's Bracers glow and a similar cocoon of light covers Wyatt, Mega evolving him. "This is going to be EPIC!" Seth adds.

Karhl looks amazed by what he sees. Garret nods in approval. Marcus jumps out of his seat and yells triumphantly. Gomez looks at Serena, who's wearing the biggest smile he'd ever seen. "You knew about this, didn't you?" He asks her. Serena nods at him. "Well, boys. Looks like this tournament just got that little bit more difficult, for us." He adds, extending his arm and making a fist. The rest of Team Epic do the same, meeting Gomez's fist. Serena does the same, winking at the group. "Hmph. Yeah, now I understand more and more why he likes you." Gomez adds.

Kassi looks shocked as she stares down at the Mega Absol she see's staring down Freya. Seth feels an opportunity to get a little cheeky. "What? Wyatt got your tongue, little sis? No angry outburst about me holding you down? That's a switch." She looks up at her Brother with the most vacant expression anyone had ever seen. Seth's expression changes from playful to serious. "Look, I'll be the first to admit that Opie can't beat Freya, you trained her very well. Too well, in fact. So, for the better part of last night, I had to come up with a way to beat you, when and if you pulled Freya out. I couldn't think of one, until Mum came to visit the campsite, this morning, when she told me not to go head to head with you. The answer to taking on Freya is standing right in front of her; Wyatt."

As he's talking, Kassi's vacant expression changes, first to confusion, then to determination. Seth gives her the exact same look. "How about it then, Kassi? Shall we finally drop this sad little sibling squabble?" Kassi nods once in response. Seth nods back. His expression suddenly changes, as he starts listening around him. The crowd are applauding. Some are cheering. Kassi hears it also. As they look around, they eye Serena and the rest of Team Epic, pumping their fists in the air, in unison, chanting "Sky-hart! Sky-hart!" Over and over again.

Eventually, the people around them, including the arrogant young man. The rest of the competitors who aren't sitting in the stands come out to the sidelines and join in. Eventually, the whole arena, is chanting. Thousands of people chanting "SKY-HART! SKY-HART!" Over and over. Muriel runs up to Kassi's podium, throwing up a black cylinder. Kassi catches it. It feels like leather and it's tied by three separate pieces of string. She unties the strings and unrolls what is a leather vest with a huge patch.

The patch depicts Salamence's wings, spreading from a Poke ball in the centre. There are two words on it, one at the top, "Team," the other at the bottom, "Epic." As soon as a camera drone picks this image up and shows it on the big screens on the North and South sides of the arena, the crowd, somehow, becomes louder. Kassi holds the waistcoat up to the crowd and the cheering gets louder still. She then slips the waistcoat on, throwing up the Too Sweet hand gesture with both hands. The crowd erupts into Team Epic chant.

She looks over at Seth, who has his arms spread wide. "KASSI SKYHART! LITTLE SISTER! THE STAGE IS THE BATTLEFIELD! THE STAGE IS OURS! AND MORE IMPORTANTLY... THE STAGE IS EPIC!" He exclaims excitedly, extending his right arm forward, making a fist. As he does this, Wyatt let's out the kind of howl that sends a cold shiver of anticipation down your spine.

Kassi smiles and looks down at Freya. "You always were the better one at setting the scene... But yes, you're right. This is what we Skyharts do! FREYA!" She calls out. Freya responds with an almighty roar. "Let's not waste time, my friend. DRAGON CLAW! LET'S GO!" Freya charges at Wyatt, it's left front claw glowing with power.

"Wyatt! Double Team! Don't let Freya hit you!" Wyatt howls again, moving at an unbelievable speed. Making clones of itself. Freya swings wildly, hitting multiple clones, but not the original Wyatt. "Good. Looks like Norio's webs payed off." He says to himself. "Wyatt, use Swords Dance, and Double Team right after that!"

Marcus looks on in shock. "How can he move like that?!" He shouts. "Wyatt's a Speed King!" He adds excitedly, as Wyatt continues to make himself faster and stronger. He suddenly tones his excitement down, however. "Thing is, we should never count Freya out of a fight." And as he says that, Freya finally connects with a Dragon Claw, striking him down hard. Wyatt lands on his feet, but slides backwards quite a distance. "Critical hit!" Marcus shouts in a nervous tone.

Seth looks a little worried, as well. "Keep it together, Wyatt! You can do this!" He nervously looks at Freya. Then his nerves settle when he see's her weakened state. "Go! Use Night Slash!" He calls out in determination. Wyatt lunges forward and hits Freya hard. Freya tries to dodge out of instinct, but can't. The Night Slash connects, and hits hard, but not quite hard enough.

Kassi smirks, feeling confident again. She was a little concerned after Wyatts attack connected. "Not bad, big brother, but not good enough!" Freya roars loud enough to shake the arena walls, in sheer defiance. "Flame Thrower, Freya! Finish it!" Freya shoots a continuous stream of fire from her mouth. Wyatt is able to get out of the way and keep moving until the attack ends. "Have you got any more attacks in your arsenal, Seth?! Because, right now, you look like you're in trouble!"

Seth smirks again. "Oh, dearest little sister. I'm a master strategist. I always have one more trick up my sleeve." He says, adjusting his hat. "Now, Wyatt! Play Rough!" Wyatt charges at Freya again. The attack connects and hits Freya hard, knocking her against the podium Kassi is standing on. Kassi looks down, in terror and confusion, then looks back at Seth, who's posing with his thumb up in the air. "Wyatt has a Fairy Type move, Kassi. And we all know what that means for any Dragon, don't we?" Seth says, extending his arm fully, switching thumb for index finger, pointing towards Freya. "Swords Dance again, Wyatt. Then use Night Slash!"

Garret smiles widely and then laughs. "Unbelievable! Seth actually bred two Pokemon to get an Absol with a Fairy Type move!" He says through his uproarious laughter. He calms down again, looking at Serena. "That boyfriend of yours never fails to surprise us!" He says cheekily, then watches as Wyatt powers up.

Serena nods, holding her hands together as she watches Freya struggle to her feet. Just at that moment, she looks up and realizes just what Garret said. She leaps out of her seat, arms flailing in protest. "WE ARE NOT A COUPLE, GARRET!" She yells, furiously. And then hides her bright red, embarrassed face behind her hands.

"Yeah, but you like him a lot." She hears from Karhl. Serena looks up an stares at him, perplexed by how he knew that. "Oh, come on, you make it so obvious every time we make a joke about it." He says as he slouches into his seat, crossing his right leg over his left and folding his arms behind his head. "Well... that and I heard your chat with Seth's Mum. We all did, actually."

As Freya stands up, Seth makes his command. "Hit her now, Wyatt!" Wyatt does as he's instructed, charging forward, the Night Slash connecting with Freya, striking her in the head. The force of the blow sends Freya backwards again. Freya tries to get to her feet once, struggling even more. She tries to roar, but she falls to her knees. "She flinched, Wyatt! Hit her with Play Rough again!"

Wyatt swings wildly, and misses. Freya moves her head out of the way in a nick of time. Kassi sees the opening. "Freya! Ariel Ace!" This attack doesn't miss. Freya builds up incredible speed in such a short distance and hits Wyatt in the side with the force of a ten tonne lorry. The impact sends Wyatt hurtling towards the arena wall, slamming him hard. Kassi towards Freya and sighs. "I think Freya's only got one good strike left, Seth. What about Wyatt?"

Seth looks down at Wyatt. He can see his friend is struggling. That Ariel Ace really hit him hard. Wyatt struggles slowly onto his feet, wincing in pain. Yet, despite his concern, Seth is smiling on the outside. "Yeah. He can still go. Even if I wanted to back down, Wyatt wouldn't stand for it." He explains, calmly. "Let's do it, Wyatt!" Seth shouts as Wyatt howls again, lunging forward with speed and ferocity.

Kassi laughs, excitedly. "Fantastic! That's what I wanted to hear!" She adds. "Freya! Let's go!" Freya roars and flies toward Wyatt. Kassi waits intently for Wyatt to get close enough to make contact. She finally see's her opening. "Use Dragon Claw!"

Seth panics. "Shoot! Double Team, Wyatt!" Wyatt reacts at the very last possible moment and is able to just barely get out of the way. Freya looks up and sees the Double Team has ended and Wyatt sees descending upon her. "Now, Wyatt, finish her with Play Rough!" Wyatt extends its claws and initiates the attack. He digs his claws in to Freyas back and runs them back and forth, before jumping off and landing right in front of where Freya faints.

As the referee raises his blue flag again, awarding the final point to Seth, the crowd falls silent, for a short moment, then bursts into applause. A small "Thank you, Skyharts" chant starts off, eventually filling the entire arena. Both Seth and Kassi nod at each other before raising their right arm, both making the Too Sweet gesture. As they both look around, getting down from their podiums, Seth catches another glance at Serena. She smiles, tips her head slightly to the left and winks at him. Seth smiles and nods back to her and goes to meet Kassi.

As the pair now walk off the field together, Serena and company leave their seats and head to meet Seth and the newest member of the team. Serena is beaming from ear to ear. She can't wait to see him. As they come in to view, she thinks about calling out to them. Instead, what she does is go from a brisk walk to a quick sprint, runs up to Seth and simultaneously hugs Seth while tackling him to the ground.

Kassi and Muriel, along with the rest of Team Epic, look on at the scene set before them. Gomez nudges Kassi and Marcus, who he's standing between, with his elbows. "You know, if this were an Animé, we'd all look uncomfortable and have an exaggeratedly large sweat drop on our heads!" He says loudly, with an extremely over the top wink. Everyone laughs.

Well, everyone that isn't Seth, who is both happy the congratulatory hug but also uncomfortable because the ground is very hard, and Serena, who is blissfully unaware that the she and Seth are being laughed at. "Serena?" Seth struggles out eventually. "Uh, don't get me wrong, I'm overwhelmed by your reaction, but I can't feel my spine." He extends his arms upwards, Gomez and Marcus take a hand each and help their friend up to his feet, Serena seemingly glued in place. Seth nods at Marcus and Gomez to thank them, then hugs Serena back. "This is a little much for just a first round win, doesn't it?" He says smiling down at her.

Serena just shakes her head. "Shut up, dummy." She responds playfully, finally breaking the hug. "I need to talk to you about something, but it can wait, for now." She adds, turning to face the group. "Kassi, it's a pleasure to meet you. I'm Serena, from Vaniville Town in the Kalos Region." She says as she extends her hand.

Kassi nods and smiles. "That's a proper introduction. I'm Kassi. From Rose Mount Town here in Scotia." She says meeting Serena's hand with her own. "I'm so sorry about our first meeting. If I knew you were Seth's girlfriend, I would've backed up and seen how much he changed immediately."

Normally, this would be the point where Serena would freak out. Seth raises an eyebrow, waiting for it to happen. However, Serena simply shakes her head and smiles. "I'm not Seth's girlfriend." She says calmly. Seth looks at her shocked. So does Kassi. So does Muriel. And so does the rest of Team Epic, for that matter.

"Really, Serena?" Marcus asks with a raised eyebrow. "Forgive me for saying this, but, you tackled Seth to the ground with affection and a wrestling move called a Spear." He says rather abruptly and cynically.

Seth smiles and steps forward to stand beside Serena. "Well..." He said, slowly, trying to find the right words. "Maybe you all could excuse the two of us and we could go somewhere to tall about it?" Serena's eyes light up at that suggestion. Everyone agrees to it. Muriel and Kassi head to the training grounds with Team Epic, while Seth and Serena head towards the Pokemon Centre to heal his team.


	5. 04 Stay

_(Hello again! This chapter took me a few attempts to get right. I even changed thr song three or four times but, in the end, I chose Stay by Black Stone Cherry. I was just singing it to myself while I was feeding horses and my brain went. "You moron! Why did it take you an age and a half to figure out this song is perfect!?" Harsh, but quite fair, really. Anyway, I hope you enjoy this chapter. The battles start again in Chapter 5)._

As Seth and Serena walk away from the Pokemon Centre, they look up at the screen and see the next match is about to begin. Serena looks at Seth, still beaming from ear to ear. "Are we going to watch this match?" She asks happily. "At least you'll see who your next opponent will be."

Seth smiles and shakes his head. "Nah. I'll find out later and study up on who it is." He responds. He can see how happy she is, her cheeks are, practically, glowing at this point. "Besides, we have something to discuss. Something that's important to us." He adds. Serena is still giddy with happiness. She looks around and points to the Café where they first caught up, noticing the decking outside has tables and chairs outside. Seth nods at her. "Perfect. You pick the table, I'll get the food and drinks.

Serena giggles a little as she walks away. She's so excited. She's thinking of everything she wants to say to Seth. Then she gets jumbled up in her head and doesn't remember how she wanted to start. Just as Seth gets to the table. Perfect timing, she thought to herself. She looks at the table and see's two cups, to teapots, two spoons, a jug of milk and a distinct lack of food. "No cakes? No sandwiches? What are you planning, Mr. Skyhart?" She asks with a playful smile.

Seth simply tips his head to the side and laughs a little. "Nothing too special. I just had a difficult battle and I'm feeling the effects of it, so I got a meal for two." Serena puts on a exaggerated look of shock. "I know! It's almost like we're on a date, isn't it?" He asks, laughing a little.

Serena joins in with the laughter. "Yeah, seems like it!" She responds through her giggling. She pours herself a cup of tea and looks at Seth, still smiling, but slightly more serious. "I guess this kind of is our first proper date, now that I think about it." She says as she picks up her cup and takes a sip, then looks at Seth. "I'm sorry for putting you on the spot, but I have to know. How do you feel about me?"

Seth takes off his hat and hangs it on the back of his chair, then leans forward, resting his forearms on the table. "I like you, Serena. I like you a lot and I always have." He says, sincerely. Serena feels relaxed, smiling brightly. "It's funny." He continues. "I've been wanting to tell you that for a long time. I've liked you since we first met. I just didn't realize how much I liked you until I was halfway out to sea, on the ferry to Sinnoh."

Serena rests her cup on the table and clasps her hands together. "I felt the same. I was so sad to watch you leave. I missed being around you. I went on social media and followed the Scotia Pokemon Classic online, because I remembered you showing me a little bit about it, waiting to hear when you were entering. Just so I could come here to see you." She says softly. "I was so happy when I got here and found out you remembered me. He didn't..." she adds solemnly as her hands fall gently on to the table, feeling a little upset, the smile she'd been wearing for so long started to fade away. "I need to tell you something. More importantly, I need you to listen and not interrupt me. Okay?"

Seth has a faint idea of what's coming next. He knows this is going to upset her and he hates seeing her sad. At first, he's not sure if he can give his word on that. Then again,maybe Serena needs this. Maybe she needs to talk about it to move on. Thinking about that, Seth nods in agreement.

Serena nods back to him and takes a momentary pause. "Ten years ago. I met someone I called a friend. After a while, I realized he meant more to me than that." She pauses and looks down at the table. "He... he left Kalos to go somewhere else. I went to his home so I could surprise him. But he didn't remember me at all. He called me crazy and told me to leave. I was distraught. I went home to Vaniville and told Mum about it. After a while, I got over it but I got the feeling that I would never have strong feelings for another person again." She smiled and looked up at Seth again. "That changed after you and I went on our adventure together."

Seth smiles at her. This is one of the things he likes about being around Serena. Seeing her almost glow with happiness made him feel great on the inside. He reaches over, wrapping his hands around hers. "You don't have to think about him anymore. And you don't have to worry about being alone anymore, either." He says as he looks right into her eyes. "From now on, wherever I go, you're coming with me. That's a promise. I'm never leaving you behind ever again." He adds, cheerfully.

Just as he's enjoying this moment, a Waitress comes to the table. "Okay, two Bean Burgers, one extra spicy, no salad?" Seth raises his hand and watches as the burger, served with fries, is placed in front of him. "And one with extra salad and a side of Spinach." The waitress adds, placing the meal in front of Serena, before walking back to the kitchen.

Serena beams with joy. "This was our first meal together in Lumiose!" She says excitedly. "Wow! You're memory for this kind of thing is so good!" She says, ecstatically, before plunging in to it. A few moments later, it's all gone and Serena couldn't be happier. "Thank you, Seth. That was amazing!" She says as she wipes the corner of her mouth with her napkin.

Seth reaches over and takes Serena's hand again. "I'm glad you remembered that, Serena." He says, busting out the smile that makes Serena feel warm inside. "I remembered something, as well, you know?" He asks her. Serena smiles and shakes her head slowly. "When we first had a meal together, this meal, is when I started to feel like you were special, to me. I just never figured out how special, at that point."

Serena looks into his eyes and takes Seth's other hand. "I hope this doesn't come put weird, but... I'm holding onto your words like I'm holding onto your hands." She leans forward just a little bit to get closer to him. "I can't wait to travel around the world with you." She continues to lean in closer still, closing her eyes.

Seth begins to do the same, leaning forward to get close to Serena. As they get close enough to brush their noses together, Serena sharply pulls back, blushing a lot and trying to hide it. Seth smiles and scratches the back of his head. "Too soon to try that, huh?" He asks quietly. Serena nods quickly, feeling really embarrassed. "I understand. We'll work towards that, eventually." He says, happily.

Serena smiles a little bit hearing that. "Thanks. I'm sorry about that." She said, bashfully. She's cursing herself, in her head, thinking about how close she got to kissing the man she came to be with, only to pull away at the last second. She can already here Garret and the others laughing at her. Then, it hit her like a Rock Smash to the brain. "So, what should we tell the guys, if they ask if we're a couple or not?" She asks Seth.

Seth ponders this for a while. "I hadn't given that any thought, to be honest with you, sweetheart." He says, still thinking very hard. "Well... how about, we tell them that we're taking things slowly an-" He stops talking once he see's Serena, who's looking down at the table, with her hands on either side of her head. "What's wrong, Serena?" Seth asks her, confused. "Wait..." He thinks back to what he's said and soon realizes he called her sweetheart without even thinking about it. "Oh! I'm sorry!"

Serena shakes her head. "No, don't be. I... I like it. I was just a bit surprised, that's all." She says quietly, folding her arms on the table, smiling and feeling more relaxed. "You're right, we should tell them we're going slowly." She says trying to contain herself. "Seth?" She asks nervously. Seth looks at her both curiously and eagerly, waiting to hear what Serena has to say next. Serena grabs his hands tightly, looking into his bright green eyes, smiling as big as she can. "I'm happy to be girlfriend." She said gleefully.

Seth stands up, keeping a hold of her left hand. "And I'm happy to be your boyfriend, Serena." He says, happily, as he puts his hat back on. "We should get going. Garrets up next." He says to her, happily. Serena nods and stands up, still holding Seth's hand.

As they continue to walk, they see a ginger haired girl wearing Dungarees over a plaid shirt, a cowboy hat and brown boots. She looks over and see's Seth and Serena heading towards her. "You're that Seth fellow everyone went nuts about earlier, right?" She asks, pointing at Seth. Seth responds by nodding a single time and scratching his head slowly. "I'm your opponent in the next stage of the tournament. The name's Brook!" She exclaims as she extends her left hand. Seth takes his right hand and shakes Brooks hand. "I gotta admit, I have no idea what this Team Epic thing you and your buddies have going on, but I'm looking forward to facing you!"

Seth smiles at her. "Well met, Brook. I look forward to facing you, too." He says calmly, before smiling slyly with a determined look in his eyes. "Just be ready to for a hard lesson, courtesy of The Headmaster of Team Epic!" He says excitedly. Brook breaks the handshake and walks away.

Serena looks bewildered at Seth. "Well, she was... a bit of a character?" She says with an upward affliction. Seth laughs a little, as they continue to walk hand in hand. "I'm really excited to talk to everyone about us!" She says, shaking a little bit with anticipation. "I'm also really nervous, as well."

Seth smiles at gently squeezes her hand, for a second. "We'll be golden." He says to her, smiling widely. Serena smiles back at him, closing her eyes and tipping her head ever so slightly to the left. "There it is." He says out of the blue. Serena looks and feels puzzled by that remark. Seth looks downward to make eye contact with. "That smile you do that I fell for, eight years ago." As the pair continue to walk around the Srena, an announcement comes over the tannoy system.

"Attention everyone! Those wishing to see the match between Garret Snyder and Donal Marx need to make their way to the main arena, as it begins in ten minutes! I repeat! Those wishing to see the match between Garret Snyder and Donal Marx need make their way to the main arena, as it begins in ten minutes!" Seth and Serena nod at each other and run towards the stands.

Seth looks hopeful. "Garret's one of the best trainers Scotia produced. He'll get through this with no problems at all." He says confidently. Serena feels warm inside, running with Seth with their fingers intertwined together. They turn the corner and make it to the stands to see Gomez, Karhl and Marcus.

"You're just in time." Karhl says, passing two hot dogs and two bourbon and cokes over to Seth and Serena. "That guy on the field is Donal Marx." He adds. Seth and Serena glance over and see a young man in a silver coat with a matching bowler hat. He's wearing black jeans, a shirt with a mega stone on it and square rimmed glasses. "This is going to be a challenge, for Garret."

Seth looks at Karhl confused. "How challenging are we talking here?" He asks his friend. He looks over at Donal again and notices the confidence and intensity all over his face. "This guy looks serious."

"Too serious, mate." Marcus says, looking up from his tablet. "Donal won his qualifier and his four opening round with one Pokemon; a Metagross that he will mega evolve immediately." Marcus says with a little tone of nervousness. "If Garret's playing smart, he'll know about this and respond."

Gomez takes a sip of his drink and relaxes in his seat, placing a single foot on the concrete barricade in front of him. "Garret should use a powerful Fire or Dark type. Knowing Garret, however, He'll want to use Shyamalan and give a mega on mega showdown because he's a showoff." He says before taking another sip from his drink.


	6. 05 Painkiller

( _It's_ _ **FINALLY**_ _that time again. Sorry for the delay, folks. I lost the original version of, not just this chapter, but the plan I had for this chapter. That. Sucked. So hard. Anyway, so this loss, on top of some personal stuff going on at the time, I didn't have the heart to start again. But I forced myself and, whaddaya know?! Here it is! The song I picked is Painkiller by Judas Priest, because the real life friend that Garret is based on loves this song. That is, literally, the only reason I picked it. Once again, I apologise for the delay and I hope you enjoy this instalment of the_ _ **SCOTIA POKÉMON CLASSIC!**_ _)_

5\. Painkiller

Garret walks into the arena at a deliberately slow pace with Shyamalan at his side. He raises his right arm skyward, making the Too Sweet gesture the crowd came to associate with Team Epic and, as a result, went absolutely nuts for. Garret takes th opportunity to interact with the people in the front row, which is, clearly, bothering Donal, who scoffs and continues to stare a hole through his opponent.

Serena can't help but feel concerned for her new friend as she looks at Garret then over at Donal. "He's so intimidating." She, clenching up her fist on her lap, looking over at Seth. "Is Garret really going to be okay?" She asks him. "I have a bad feeling about Donal. Seth, that man has bad intentions, I can feel it!" She adds in a panicked tone.

Seth wraps his hands around Serena's fists and looks right into her eyes. "Garret is going to be fine, Serena." He says to her. Serena believes him, but looks down at the ground. She feels nervous. No, she feels scared. "It's okay." She hears from Seth. She looks up at him and see's the serious look on his face. "I know. I feel it too. Donal is a threat beyond anything." Seth says to her, looking directly at Donal, who looks up and stares a hole through Seth. "This will be a dangerous battle for Garret. For anyone who faces Donal. But I have faith in my friend." He adds as he looks back up at Serena and smiles at her. Serena closes her eyes and beams back at him.

Gomez, along with Karhl and Marcus, smile as they look on at the pair, before Gomez turns his attention to Garret. "If that look is anything to go by, Garret should be okay." Gomez says as he points out the determination all over his face. "He's fired up! This is not going to be the walkover Donal thinks it is."

Down on the battlefield, Garret is staring down his opponent, who's looking up at the stands. "Hey! If you're looking for your seat, maybe you should do that after our battle?" Garret shouts across to Donal, who slowly turns to face him. "That's right. Your challenge is right here, on the battlefield!"

Donal snorts and throws a Pokeball, releasing his Crawdaunt. "Let me make one thing very clear to you, Snyder." He says with a weird kind of calm anger. "There is one trainer in this tournament that I can consider a challenge. You are NOT that trainer. You are a minor inconvenience, nothing more." He adds, callously. Garret's expression changes from determined, to confusion and anger, as Donal continues to talk "The truth is I don't respect you, or most of Team Epic, for that matter." He Snaps. "Some of you are riding the coat tails of the only great trainer among you, and the rest just tag along for status." The crowd fell silent, as Donal carried on with his verbal tirade. "You are not a great trainer, Garret, like so many people here believe. You are lucky, that's it. Now, I'm going to show you, your friends and the entire world watching what I know: Your luck just run out."

Garret snarls loudly at Donal "Enough!" He bites back viciously, throwing a safari ball and releasing a Cradilly. "You don't respect me, you say? Good!" Garret adds with a large amount of anger in his tone. "I love facing guys like you. That way I don't feel bad for eliminating an egotistical jerk. Ridley! ENERGY BALL!" Garret yells. Ridley roars into life, shooting a ball of green light at Crawdaunt, hitting him right in the face.

Crawdaunt slides backwards. Donal continues to look through Garret, instead of looking at him. "Crab Hammer, Crawdaunt." Donal says quietly. Crawdaunt launches itself at Ridley, his pincer coming down on his head with great force. So much, in fact, that the ground cracks underneath Ridley. Garret looks on in shock.

So does the rest of Team Epic. Seth stands up, leaning against the barricade. "Garret! Focus! Ridley can hit that Crawdaunt harder than that!" He yells across to his friend. Donal turns to look at Seth again. Seth notices and sits down again, coming to a realization. "He's looking through Garret to get to me." He says looking over to Serena. He takes her hands, then turns back to face Garret and Donal.

Donal smirks, looking into the palm of his right hand, then clenching it into a fist. "Hmph. Crawdaunt, use Crab Hammer again." Crawdaunt lunges forward again. Ridley dodges out of instinct, flipping over to the right. Donal Looks up at Garret, finally. "Your Pokémon have more control of this battle than you!"

Garret shakes his head, slowly. "Wrong." He responds. "That's just how strong the bond is between me and my Pokémon. They know what I want from them without me saying a word." And as he finishes that sentence, Ridley unleashes an Energy Ball that sends Crawdaunt into Donal's podium, knocking the Pokémon out cold.

As the referee raised his blue flag, rewarding a point to Garret, everyone in Team Epic leaped out of their seat and joined the crowd in their cheer. Or so Serena thought. Seth was still seated, looking concerned. She sat down and rested her hands and his clenched fists. "It's okay Seth." She says trying to comfort him. "Garret has this in the bag. Donal won't make a mistake of looking through him again."

Seth still looks worried. Even more so, when he looks to Donal and see's an expression of both anger and disgust. "You... You BASTARD!" He yelled vehemently. "YOU GET A LUCKY SHOT AGAINST AGAINST ME AND YOU THINK YOU'RE IN MY LEAGUE?!" He continued. He looks up at Garret, who has a serious expression on his face, on arm raised to the sky, making the too sweet hand gesture. Donal snorts at his opponent. "YOU'RE A FRAUD, SNYDER! A CON ARTIST WHO'S LUCK HAS JUST RUN OUT!" In one swift motion, Donal reaches behind him and, one swift motion, presses the button on the Heavy Ball he grabbed and launches it, unleashing his Metagross. "This is the end of your journey." Donal says in an almost crazed tone.

Garret laughs uproariously, holding onto the rails of his podium. Serena looks at Seth confused by what she see's from Garret. Seth looks determined, his left fist clenched tightly. "He got what he wanted, Serena." He says standing up, resting his right hand on the guard wall. "Garret! He's cracked! Finish him off, but be careful!" Seth is joined by Serena, Marcus, Karhl Gomez, Muriel and Kassi, who just joined the group at that moment. They all make the Too Sweet hand gesture to Garret. Garret regains his composure and makes the same hand gesture back to his friends.

Donal turns to face Seth, pointing at him. "STAY OUT OF THIS, SKYHART! YOUR HELP FROM THE SIDELINES CAN'T STOP ME FROM KNOCKING THIS CLOWN OUT OF THE TOURNAMENT!" He looks at Seth the most demented eyes Seth had ever seen. "NOTHING CAN SAVE YOU FROM ME. NOT GARRET. NOT TEAM EPIC! NO ONE!"

"Ahem!" Garret feigns loud coughing for about a minute until Donal finally turns to face him. "You're all kinds of insane, if you think you can get past me and my Pokémon that easy. Ridley, use Ancient Power!" Ridley springs into life, launching glowing rocks at Metagross. The attack clearly connects, but Metagross doesn't look like it was affected. Garret looks on in horror.

Donal laughs as he pulls his coat aside and reveals a pin with a Key stone. He touches it, concealing Metagross in a cocoon of light. When the cocoon shatters, Metagross has changed. It now has eight legs. The cross on its face has turned gold in colour. Karhl looks at the battle with a serious expression. "This is where the real battle begins." He says stoically.

"Indeed." Marcus adds. "Isn't anyone still a little curious about the fact that this wasn't his opening move?" He asks putting his hand to his right hand to his chin. "In every other match, up until this point, Donal used nothing but this Metagross. Why change strategy now?"

Kassi looks towards the group. "Well, it could be that Donal didn't want a struggle in the intro stage of the competition? It's pretty clear that Metagross is his strongest Pokemon. If I were him, I'd use that to my advantage."

Gomez looks straight at the battlefield. "Maybe. Or it could be that he was testing Garret." He adds, closing his hands in front of his mouth, concentrating deeply on the scene unfolding in front of him. "It's up to Garret to step up and show everyone he can go with the best."

"Ridley! Hit him with Ancient Power!" Ridley lifts more glowing rocks out of the ground, this time launching them at Donal's Metagross. Metagross charges at Ridley before it can finish it's attack, smashing into the Fossil Pokémon hard, sending Ridley into Garrets podium. "What the?!" Garret exclaims in shock and confusion as the referee raises his red flag, awarding the point to Donal.

Donal's eyes widen. His pupils dilate as we bears a very crazed, toothy grin. "YOU CAN'T BEAT ME, I ALREADY TOLD YOU THIS!" He shouts between maniacal cackles. "AND NOW METAGROSS IS GOING TO TEAR YOUR TEAM APART, PIECE BY PAINFUL PIECE!" Donal adds. "LET THE TORTURE CONTINUE!"

As the crowd falls into a very uncomfortable silence, Garret adjusts his hat and smirks at Donal again, hoping to throw his opponent off. "You know, you keep saying the same thing over and over, yet you've gone off your nut over the loss of one Pokémon." He adds calmly. Donal expression doesn't change even a little bit while Garret calls back Ridley while pulling out a Sport Ball. "Now, Nolan! Let's show him what we can do!" He calls out Nolan, a Chandelure that spins on it's release. "Nolan! Will O' Wisp!" Garret commands. Nolan complies and springs into action, launching a blue flame that connects with Metagross, leaving a significant burn on it.

"Superb!" Marcus shouts "That'll wear that Metagross down!" he adds. Seth continues to hold his chin in his right hand. Analysing the battle as it unfolds. "What's wrong, Seth?" He hears Marcus ask him He looks up to see Marcus, along with Serena and the rest of Team Epic, looking at him with mixed expressions of anticipation, nervousness and excitement. "Will O' Wisp left that Metagross with a burn, which will reduce Metagross' speed and eat away at its health! Final is in serious trouble, now!"

Seth shakes his head slowly. "slowing down a slow Pokémon like Metagross Isn't the issue." He says stoically. "he needs to reduce it's power, as a whole. Metagross can hit you hard, we all know this." The positive expressions on the faces of Team Epic turn to a collection of fearful faces. "That said..." Seth adds, starting to smile. "This is Garret, we're talking about. He's picked the right Pokémon for the task."

"Right!" Serena added, hastily. "Nolan is a Fire and Ghost type, which Both have an advantage over Metagross, a Psychic and Steel type!" She informs the group. Seth smiles real big at her, feeling the familiar warmth he gets from her once again. He rests his hand on hers. Serena smiles and, instinctively, locks her fingers with his.

Karl smirks and flicks his hair over to the right side of his fringe. "You two are so sickeningly sweet, I could puke up a plusle." He quips, sarcastically. Seth and Serena, simultaneously, sit bolt upright in their seats, as if they were paralyzed by a thunder wave. "Seriously, though..." Karhl adds, his silly tone exchanged for a much more deliberate demeanour. "As I look at Garret, I see a different kind of determination."

Gomez nods once and looks back towards Garret. "I noticed it too. It's almost like he's a new person. Gone is the moment when he was out to steal the show. Now, Garret just wants to put Donal out of this tournament." He points out to the group. "Garret wants to win. He doesn't care for style points, this time. Our cameraman and Pokémon Manager has matured, lads."

Kassi steps forward, her arms folded and her eyes fixed on The opposing side of the field. "Something feels really wrong about that Metagross." She observes, uncomfortably. "I don't know how, but it feels more unhinged than Donal, himself. Which can only be a bad thing."

"Nolan! Flame Thrower!" Garret shouts. Nolan opens his mouth and shoots a continuous stream of fire at Metagross, which connects. Metagross cries out in pain and, before Nolan's attack is even finished, it slams itself into the ground, creating an earthquake that not only crates a massive dirt cloud around the battlefield, but it shakes the entire arena, with some of the spectators even fell out of their seats. Once the dust settles, Nolan is spotted on the ground. Metagross letting out a screech that made the entirety of the people in the arena tremble. Even Donal himself. Him and Garret watched on in horror as Metagross reeled and went for another attack on the unconscious Nolan "Nolan! Return!" Garret yells in fear, quickly whipping out his Sport Ball. Nolan is pulled into the ball, and out of harms way, just in time, as Metagross piles his Zen Headbutt into the ground. "Donal! Call that monster back! It's out of control! DONAL!"

Donal has been spotted by one of the spectators. "HE'S FREAKING OUT BEHIND HIS PODIUM! HE'S TOO SCARED GARRET!" The spectators start to panic and run from their seats. Seth, Serena and Team Epic stand their ground as terrified fans run for the exits around them. They continue to survey the scene unfolding in front of them. Arena officials enter the battleground and release several Clefable. The horde of Clefable are collectively trying to sing Metagross to sleep. Sure enough, Donal is not standing at his podium

Seth nods and releases Serena's hand. "Stay here guys, I gotta take care of Donal." Seth leaps over the barricade down onto the battlefield, just behind the arena officials. As he starts to run towards the red podium, he hears a very familiar voice call his name. He turns around to see Serena land on the ground of the battlefield. "What are you doing, Serena?!" He shouts to her.

Serena sprints towards Seth and looks deep into his eyes with the most serious expression he has ever seen on her face. "We do everything together now, remember? I'm here to help you!" She answers him. Seth smiles at her. Which, of course, Serena returns in kind. "Just like how we dealt with Team Flare, when we were kids!" She exclaims, tilting her head and winking at him.

"You two need to get off the battlefield!" one of the officials shouts to the pair. "We can't-!" But before he can finish his sentence, Metagross slams itself into the ground once more, knocking out all the Clefable and Every human on the battlefield off their feet. Serena and Seth slowly stand up together. Serena pulls out a Pokéball, while Seth grabs his Premier Ball.

"LUCARIO! WE NEED YOU!" Serena shouts.

"GO GET THAT BEAST, WYATT!" Seth shouts at the same time.

The two Pokémon stare up at their floating foe. Their Mega stones on Wyatts left leg and Lucarios right arm, respectively, begin to glow radiantly. Serena pulls her Mega Ring out of her skirt pocket, while Seth rolls his right sleeve up. "MEGA EVOLVE!" They call put together as they touch their Mega Ring and Braver and then raise their arms to the sky, in perfect sync with each other. Both Wyatt and LUCARIO are nether in their cocoons of light, momentarily, before bursting put of them, charging directly at Metagross.

"LUCARIO! BONE RUSH!"

"WYATT! NIGHT SLASH!"

Lucario pulls a glowing blue quarterstaff length bone out of thin air and strikes Metagross five times, then moves out of the way to reveal Wyatt. Metagross can do nothing but watch as Wyatt's right claws start to elongate and glow a dark shade of violet. Wyatt's SLASH connects and hits the out of control for hard. Both Lucario and Wyatt land back on the ground. Metagross reels from the two super effective attacks, then yells out in agony once more as it raises itself up and starts to speed to the ground again, trying another Earthquake. "SERENA!" Seth calls out loudly, turning his back to the battlefield, wrapping his arms around her in an instinctive protection attempt.

"DRAGON PULSE, SHYAMALAN! FULL POWER!" A voice calls out. A powerful beam of concentrated energy connects with the belly of Metagross, who hits the ground an unconscious state. Serena and Seth turn to see Garret standing next to a Mega Amphoros. He nods at the pair before walking over to the red podium. Seth and Serena call back their Pokémon and then follow the arena officials out one of the gateways.

Garret finds Donal has adopted the fetal position, trembling in fear. He, quite coldly, pulls Donal onto his feet and glares into his opponents eyes. "Snap out of it." He says sharply. "Call back that beast. It's out cold and needs medical attention. Donal snapsbout of his trembling state, shakes his head and calls Metagross back to its Pokéball without saying a word. He's soon joined by Gomez, Marcus, Karhl, Kassi and Muriel, along with Seth and Serena, who returned with Professor Pine.

Garret snorts and punches Donal in the ribcage. Marcus and Gomez grab Garret's arms and restrain him as best they can. "YOU FOOL! DON'T YOU REALISE THAT YOUR UNHINGED PERSONA IS WHAT DROVE METAGROSS MAD, IN THE FIRST PLACE?!" Garret yells furiously at his opponent. "AND THEN IT SPIRALLED INTO A STATE WHERE IT COULDN'T CONTROL ITSELF BECAUSE YOU HAD IT MEGA EVOLVE BEFORE IT WAS READY TO CONTROL THAT POWER!"

"Okay, Garret, that's enough." Professor Pine said, gently, to him. "Shouting at Donal won't get the treatment that Nolan needs." GARRET nods, sadly and walks off with the Professor and Marcus, holding Nolan's Sport Ball, staring at it with regretful eyes. Gomez and Karhl leave with Kassi and Muriel.

Serena and Seth look at each other. Seth nods first. Serena nods afterwards and follows the group. Leaving Seth alone in an empty arena with Donal. "I want to tell you that you already know what I'm going to say. Truthfully, after what I saw today, I'm not sure that's true. Either way, I just don't care for what's going on in your head. You're going to listen to what I have to say and then you're going to have to, somehow, make up your own mind about what to do." Seth says calmly, but firmly

Donal looks up at Seth in anger. Seth, on the other hand, smirks at Donal, a single eyebrow raised. "That is what you wanted, Right? You wanted me to carry on this facade that you're not quite right, in the skull?" Donal expression changes from anger to shock as Seth continues. "Yeah, I noticed it a mile away. That sudden snap was a fantastic performance. You had the majority of the audience fooled." He adds with outstretched arms. "Trouble is, you gave the game away when you hid in fear from your own Pokémon, who didn't understand you were faking it. THAT is what started to drive your poor Metagross mad. Your bond with it was called into question because it couldn't get it's mind and it's heart in sync with yours."

All Donal is fall to his knees and let the regret take over. He looks into his hands in anguish. "What have I done?" he says almost crying. "I hurt my friend because I tried to hard to psyche out my opponent!" He says, raising his voice, the tears finally breaking through as he pulls out the Pokéball. "Metagross... I'm so sorry... Can you ever forgive this idiotic person and call me your friend again?"

Seth looks down at him, his arms folded. "Well, you're partly right. You are an idiot. Because your actions have consequences. Namely, what happened to Nolan, Garret's Chandelure." Donal looks up in horror. He'd totally forgot about what happened to Nolan. "Despite this, I don't think you're a bad person. Maybe not the smartest trainee in the world. Bit not a horrible person." Seth adds with almost no hint of tone. "Make no mistake, though. If Nolan is seriously hurt, or worse, I will make damn sure that your stupidity has a cost. Namely, your right to be a Pokémon Trainer. What you did was reckless and stupid. And this is my friends Pokémon, you understand?"

Donal gives Seth a single Sad nod, before Seth turns away from him. "One more thing, Donal. I know this should be common sense, but I feel the need to tell you. Stay away from Team Epic. If Nolan is okay, We'll come find you. Until then, keep your distance." And with that, Seth walks away. Maybe he did go over the top, but he kept telling himself that Donal needed to hear that. "Maybe next time he won't be so reckless. I hope..." he says to himself. As he approaches the Pokénon Centre, he spots Serena and walks up to her. "How is Nolan?"

Serena looks up at Seth with sad, shocked eyes. "You need to come inside."


	7. 06 Broken Remedy

**06\. Broken Remedy**

 _(So, I've picked two songs by one of my favourite bands for this chapter; Seether! Broken will take up the first part, while Remedy will kick in when the battle starts. Two reasons why I decided to do things this way. The first, and most obvious reason, is that it took too damn long to get over the severe case of writers block I had and I'm very sorry about that. The second being that I would rather do one long chapter, instead of two different ones, if the songs in question are by the same artist. If this chapter feels weird and disjointed, please feel free to be abusive about it, so I know never to do it ever again. Okay, don't get abusive, but certainly let me know about your feelings. I might do it again, sometime. Also, I'd like to apologise for taking so long to bring this out, but other life things got in the way, like College and my new-found love for Persona 5. But enough talk! LET'S DO THIS!)_

Nurse Joy is standing outside the ward. When Serena left, she was in there healing Garret's Chandelure. "Nurse Joy... Have you finished with Nolan?" Nurse Joy nods solemnly. Serena sighs and then looks around. She doesn't see Karhl or Garret.

Seeing both her and Seth puzzled, Muriel takes a single step forward to answer them. "Karhl went to prepare for his battle, by request of Mister Keyes. "We need to keep the crowd from feeling worried." Were his exact words, I believe?" As she says this, Gomez and Marcus nod simultaneously.

Seth folds his arms and leans against the wall behind him, looking down at the ground.

"Makes sense, as cold as it sounds." He responds. "People didn't pay to see a rank amateur lose control of his most powerful Pokémon and start a panic. If the whole show shut down now, there'd be an uproar. Potentially." As he says this, Serena takes his hands, hearing both sadness and anger in his trembling voice. Seth raises his head to look at her face. What he sees is a look that has three words to describe what she wants to say; No more anger. He lets out a long sigh and pulls Serena in close, wrapping his arms around her.

At first, Serena feels a little shocked by how suddenly pulled Seth pulled her close to him. But she smiles and hugs him just a little tighter. The pair smile, eyes closed, in each other's embrace. As everyone looks on and smiles with them, they hear a door open behind them. They turn to see Garret looking tired and sad. "Hey." He forces out.

"How are you holding up, brother?" Marcus asks. He knows Garret isn't doing great. They all do. Garret respond with a single, slow nod. Marcus puts his left hand on his friends' shoulder. "How about Nolan? Is he going to be okay?" Garret doesn't respond. As Marcus looks at his friends' eyes, he see's nothing. No joy. No pain. Nothing.

Garret eventually gives another single nod before turning to Nurse Joy. Nurse Joy turns to the rest of the group and walks into the centre of them all. "Nolan can't produce fire. I'm still trying to figure out how that's possible, but my best guess is it had to do with when that last attack Metagross unleashed." At the very moment, Garret fell onto the bench behind him. Feeling more defeated than he ever had. He looks up to Nurse Joy, who struggled to smile, herself. "I'll try my hardest to figure out what exactly and how permanent it is."

Garret looked up at her and gave her the saddest smile she'd ever seen. He then turned to look at his friends. "You guys better go cheer for Karhl. He needs you guys more than I do, right now." He forces out. They all nod at him simultaneously and walk away.

Except for Kassi. "I'll stay. Someone needs to come and update you guys on Nolans condition." She informs the group. Garret doesn't even look up from the ground as Kassi takes a seat next to him while Nurse Joy returns to tend to his Pokémon.

"INTRODUCING FIRST! THE GLASPORT CITY SAINT! SPIKE! RILEY!" The gang hear from Professor Pine as they take their seats. Spike takes a very slow and casual saunter towards the Battlefield, alongside a menacing looking Kabutops. A quick glance at the battlefield shows the aftermath of what happened because of Metagross.

Pillars of rock stand tall around the battlefield. Looking around, Serena spots a man with long ginger hair, clad in jeans, boots and a leather jacket. She taps Seth on his shoulder and points him out. Seth Scoffs at the sight of Spike. "He hasn't changed in ten years? Wow…" Serena looks puzzled at Seth. Seth turns to look at her. "Spike was a friend of ours. Emphasis on was."

"He was closest to Karhl. They were closer than a lot of siblings." Gomez said, angrily. "Up until that day." He said clenching his fist. Then going as far as to punch the barricade, causing Serena to jump back into her seat, and into Seth, a little bit. "Sorry…" He says bitterly, gritting his teeth. Muriel and Serena see nothing but pure disdain in the Gomez's eyes.

Serena is taken aback by Gomez. She knows him well enough to know that his bond with his friends is important, as is the case with Seth and everyone else in Team Epic. "He must have done something awful to you all, right?"

Marcus nods once in response. "He left Karhl in the forest on his own. In the dark night of winter. And Karhl just got Ecto." Serena put her hands across her face, shocked by what she just heard, shaking her head. Marcus looks at her briefly, them looks down towards Spike, staring a hole through him. "That reject heard a noise that scared him, and he ran away. He called himself a ' _Pokemon Master_ ' but he didn't even recognise the sound of a Noctowl."

Muriel looks on sadly, joining the conversation as soon as Marcus finishes, talking over the announcement that Karhl was walking onto the battlefield. "That was the time when you guys went to find Karhl in the snow, right?" She asks. They all nod, as they watch Karhl make his way towards the red podium. Muriel Solemnly lowers her head. "I wasn't old enough to know about it, but Kassi told me about it. You found him under a small overhang, sheltered from the snow."

"Yeah, I remember seeing the state of him. Barely." A familiar voice adds to the conversation. Everyone looks to their right to see Kassi has just joined them. "He was shivering cold, was in bed with a terrible fever and the flu. The doctor was out to his house daily." She adds.

"We're all mad at Spike for what he did. He lied, and that hurt Karhl." Seth points out to the group. "Kinda like what Donal did, it hurt Garret, Nolan and even his own Metagross. Karhl is probably mulling that over in his head now." He takes Serena's hand as he watches his friend take his place on the podium. "A lie hurt Karhl. Another hurt his friend, our friend. This is the wrong time for Spike to even show his face, never mind show up for a Pokemon battle." They all watch as Karhl glares a hole through his opponent.

Spike tries to smile at Karhl, but Karhl continues to glare, raising his arms, slowly. "Hey, Karhl. Look, I'm sorry for what I did to you. It was my fault that you ended up on your own, in the cold." He says to the Team Epic member as his Kabutops takes to the battlefield. "And I'm sorry for what happened to Nolan. I hope we can have this duel for Garre-"

"SHUT UP!" As he tries to finish his sentence, Karhl cuts him off sharply, loudly, and launches his Dusk Ball in utter silence, relasing Ecto, his Gengar, then flicking his hair behind his left ear and hits the Keystone. Ecto is wrapped in a cocoon of light. The cocoon shatters, revealing Mega Gengar. "Listen to me, you insignificant speck, let's get a few things straight." Karhl finally speaks out, in a low, angry tone. "First of all, an apology after ten years? It doesn't matter how sincere you are, you left it far too long, you coward." Karhl's voice is slowly raising in volume as he continues to ramble at Spike. "Secondly, you don't ever mention my friends. If you think that kind of fake sentiment will get you anywhere with me, you are sorely mistaken!" His breath becoming heavier as he gets angrier. "And finally, if you seriously believe you have a chance against me, then Marcus must have hit you harder than any of us first thought! This won't be a duel of honour, this will be an utter embarrassment for you!"

Gomez shakes his head. "Did Spike really think he could just utter Garrets name in a soft voice, apologise and think this would be put behind us?" He asks, looking to Marcus and Seth, who simply nod slowly, sighing simultaneously. "Good grief. He would have been better off putting the past behind him and getting on with the battle."

Kassi shrugs. "That might be what he was intending." They all look to her. Kassi looks at the group. "Karhl is very angry now. That's how I was, and I lost because of it." They all look to each other and nod. They all don't want to agree with Kassi, but at this stage, none of them have a sound counter argument. Kassi, looks back at the battlefield. "Hey, I don't want to think that either because, honestly, I can't imagine a dirtier tactic. Although, Spike looks and seems very genuine with his apology. So, it could just be he said something dumb. I'm just saying that we shouldn't rule it out."

Serena looks to Kassi, remembering why she didn't join them originally. "Kassi? What about Nolan? Is he going to be okay?" The rest turn to face Kassi, who simply winks and gives them all a thumbs up. They all collectively sigh in relief. Serena turns to face the battlefield, looking at the stare down between Ecto and Spike's Kapbutops.

Spike points dramactically towards Ecto. "Kenta! Use Rock Tomb!" The Kabutops runs up to an uplifted chunk of rock and cuts it in half, kicking it towards Ecto. Karhl simply smirks and watches his Gengar barely move at all in order to dodge the upcoming projectile, which passes millimetres away from his purple, ghostly form. "What?! How?!" Spike exclaims in response.

Karhl smirks at his opponent. "Surprised Spike? You shouldn't be. Afterall, you should remember the kind of bond myself and Ecto share." He says coldly to his opponent. "Then again, you only did care about yourself." Spike grunts in response to this as Karhl holds an open palm and stretches his arm out in front of him. "Now, Ecto! Use Energy Ball!" Ecto lets out a chilling, vicious howl as green energy forms a ball in front of him, then he launches it at Genji, connecting and sending him hurtling backwards knocking him out in one shot. The referee nods and raises the blue flag, Awarding the point to Karhl.

"Critical hit!" Shouts Muriel with glee. She leaps out of her seat, running up to the barricade and then turning to the group. "That had to really hurt Genji, right?" She asks energetically. They all nod in response. Muriel looks back at the battlefield for a moment, then feels confused and turns back round to face the group again. "Wait, I know mega evolved Pokemon are powerful, but Gengar isn't a Grass type, right? That shouldn't have been that effective, surely?"

Serena shakes her head. "Well, Kaputops is a rare Pokemon so I guess you might not know." She says with a smile. "Kabutops is both a Rock and Water type Pokemon." She adds, turning to Seth and

smiling. But Seth isn't happy. He's concentrating on the match. She sandwiches Seth's left hand between hers, trying to comfort him. "Seth? Would you care to finish?"

Seth turns to face his girlfriend. He see's her smiling and can't help but smile with her. He turns back to face watch the battle. "Well, that makes Kabutops super weak to Energy Ball, as both his types are weak to Grass." He says warmly, placing his right hand on top of Serena's. "Couple that with how long and how hard Ecto and Karhl have been training together, along with the power of Mega Evolution, and the result really isn't a surprise." He adds on, confidently, watching as Spike withdraws his knocked out Genji.

"Not bad, Karhl. You've grown strong." Spike says calmly, with a smile. "I guess, I deserved that, didn't I? I underestimated you. But I won't make that same mistake again!" He shouts, as he grabs a Fast Ball. "Show 'em what you've got got, Mystico!" He hurls the ball forward and it bursts open, revealing a Hawlucha. "Close the gap and use Fling, Mystico!" Spike commands. Hawlucha moves suddenly, grabbing Ecto and spinning him round before launching him into the barricade just below Karhl's friends, dust and dirt kicked up from the ground.

"That's a Dark type move!" Marcus calls out, sitting up from his seat. "Dark moves are super effective against Ghost type Pokemon like Gengar!" He adds. He looks to the group and see's Seth smirking and giggling to himself. "I don't see what you've got to be happy about Seth. Ecto could be in serious trouble!"

Seth closes his eyes, shaking his head. "Watch this." He responds

"Use Thunder, Ecto!" Karhl screams. A huge bolt of electrical energy shoots through the dust and connects with Msytico, shocking him forcefully. Mystico cries out in pain, then falls over, knocked out, as soon as the attack is finished, with the referee, once again, raising the blue flag to award the point to Karhl Von Rais.

"What did I tell you?" Seth asked cheekily, laughing to himself ever so slightly. "Karhl isn't about to fall to someone like that piece of crap. Especially with the heightened motivation he has now." Gomez, Muriel and Kassi nod in unison, with Marcus catching on a few seconds later.

Spike looks over to his opponent, seeing a face that expresses both a calm minded focus, and a pair of eyes that reveal a deep hatred. "What's it going to take to put this behind us, man?" He asked in a weak, almost pleading tone. "What is it you need me to say? That you're right and that I was a coward? Fine!" No one expected that kind of remark. Not even Spike himself, as he looks into his open palms, wondering what words just left his mouth.

"Spike!" Karhl calls out. "The reason I wanted you to shut up and battle was because I knew you were moments away from making that mistake. Look, I know you're being genuine. I'm just not ready to hear it. Not after what just happened." Seth and the boys stand to applaud, not just their comrade Karhl, but Spike as well. Both young men look around and see and hear the applause getting louder and louder still. Karhl and Spike look back at each other with determined grins. "You beat me, somehow, and you'll have earned that applause." Karhl says to his opponent.

"Hah!" Spike laughs. "Tell that to Helmsley!" He adds as he releases a Kangaskhan from his Pokeball. This Kangaskhan seems different. It's wearing a collar around with his neck an all too familiar stone hanging from it. "Now Helmsley! Mega Evolve!" Spike calls out, as he taps the Keystone on his belt buckle. A cocoon of light envelopes itself around Helmsley and then bursts open, revealing Kangaskhan has taken on a slightly new shape, with black stones protruding from various points on it and its child, which have now separated. "Helmsley has been trained with the task of wiping out Ecto, Karhl. Hope you're ready."

"Brace yourself, Ecto!" Karhl calls out to his friend, as the arena falls silent, waiting on bated breath. Seth starts to think about this situation to himself. He knows that ghost and normal types can't touch Ghost types and vice versa. In his mind, he knows Spike has a plan, but isn't sure what that plan is. He focuses back on Karhl, who makes his attack. "Energy Ball, Ecto! Hit him hard!"

Spike smirks to himself "Dodge that, Helmsley! Then use Crunch!" Helmsley and his little sidekick lunge forward, splitting to dodge the energy ball on either side of it, then they both land their powerful attacks, biting down on Ecto, who cries out in pain from the super effective hits, before they leap back closer to their trainer.

"Ecto can't take another hit like that!" Muriel calls out. The whole group notice that hit took a lot out of Ecto. "What's the best course of action for Karhl, now?" She asks, looking to her brother, sister and her friends for answers. As the group look down to Karhl, who seems to be asking himself the same question.

"Well…" Kassi pipes up. "If it were me, I'd pull Ecto out of there. Shadow Tag only prevents Helmsley from Escaping, not Ecto." She informs everyone. "So, I say escape, recover and then use another one or, potentially, two Pokemon to try and bring down his health." As she says this, they all notice Karhl pulling out Ecto's Dusk Ball. "Seems like Karhl has another idea, however."

"Ecto, Thunderbolt!" Karhl calls out.

Seth's eyes widen in shock as he looks over and see's Spike smirking as he watches Karhl. He runs up to the barrier. "Karhl, don't do it!"

"Sucker Punch, Helmsley!" Spike roars out. Helmsley lunges forward with his young partner, both hitting Ecto as he waits to return to his dusk ball. Both connecting hard for massive damage, knocking Ecto out as he returns to Karhl. As the referee raises the red flag, Spike visibly smirks as he earns his first point of the match.

Seth sits back down. "That's bad." He says looking at the battlefield. "Ecto was Karhl's best bet. Sucker Punch was not something anyone but Spike, himself could have expected." He adds, turning to face his friends.

Gomez leans forward resting his elbows on his calves, locking his fingers together, then resting his chin on his thumbs. "You said it. While the thought of getting this battle over quickly was a good one, that Mega Kangaskhan threw Karhl for a loop." He said as he surveys the battlefield, noticing that even Karhl seems to be wracking his brain for a solution.

Serena pipes up at this point. "Yeah, but he's from Team Epic! He won't go down without a fight!" She says enthusiastically, clasping her hands, then pointing to Seth and her new friends. "And he'll fight even harder with his friends supporting him!"

Everyone stands up and runs up to the barrier, cheering loudly for Karhl. Karhl looks up to see his friends, then pulls out a plain, red and white pokeball. "You took down my strongest Pokemon, Spike, but I am far from beaten! Ifrit, show him what you've got!" He yells, throwing a Pokeball, releasing an Infernape.

Spike points at Ifrit and calls out to Helmsley. "Use Crunch!" Helmsley and the little Kangaskhan charge forward towards Ifrit.

"Agility, Ifrit!" Karhl calls out. Helmsley's attack misses. And continues to miss everytime He tries to hit the Infernape. "Now follow up with Power Up Punch!" Ifrit lunges forward, punching Helmsley in the central area of the ribs with the left fist. "Now Fire Punch!" Karhl adds, with Ifrit responds, the right fist now alight, striking Helmsley with a spinning back punch. "Now, Low Sweep!" Infernape cries out loudly, continuing to spin and gain momentum. This time, he drops low, smacking Helmsley's ankle, who bellows loudly, echoing throughout the arena. Ifirit then backflips to safety, taking up a battle stance. "Not too shabby, if I do say so myself. What about you, Spike?" Karhl asks, cheekily, to the sound of roars and cheers from the crowd.

Spike nods at Karhl. "Impressive. A perfectly timed dodge followed super effective hit with a power raise, then a powerful fire move and another super effective hit with speed drop. You've improved a lot, Karhl!" He calls out, to clapping his hands in applause. Spike then stops and turns his smile to a look of determination. "That said, I'd like to see you try that again." He shouts out, pointing at his opponent.

Karhl gives his opponent a stoic nod. "Ifrit! Hit him with a Low Sweep!" Ifrit charges forward at great speed and, to everyone's surprise, doesn't hit his mark on the pair of Kangaskhan. Ifrit looks up in shock. As does Karhl, along with the audience in attendance, as the pair fly high into the air. "Your Kangaskhan can reach that height?!"

Spike nods "And that's not all He can do. Helmsley! Use Drain Punch!" Helmsley roars and turns to dive at Ifrit, balling up his fist and unleashing at his foe, with the smaller of the two following up with the second hit, draining the very life from the Infernape. "One more time with the Drain Punch!" Helmsley and his younger compatriot strike Ifrit again, draining more life while sending the Infernape flying into the wall.

"Ifrit, No!" Karhl calls out as his Pokemon hits the floor. The referee raises the red flag again. "Come on back, old friend. You were amazing." He said with a sad smile as he pulls out his Pokeball to call back Ifrit. "Now what I do?" He asks himself under his breath. He starts racking up his options. The crowd falls silent.

"Now what?" Muriel asks. "If the fighting type can't beat that Kangaskhan, what member of Karhl's team can?" She adds, looking to the group. Most of them shake their heads. Seth looks on nervously for a moment, then smirks as he looks on. Muriel tips her head, curiously. "You have a thought to share, big brother?"

Seth shakes his head once. "Not a thought, but an observation. Karhl seems to be smiling, so he must have a plan."

Karhl whips a Cherish Ball from inside his waistcoat and presses the button down with his thumb before hurling it toward the battlefield. "Go get him Ravana!" He yells as the ball hurtles forward, it opens and shoots it's light out. As it settles, it takes shape and reveals a Flygon.

"That's way too risky!" Marcus calls out. "Ravana is a strong Pokemon for sure, but Helmsley took down another Mega evolution and a powerful Infernape. Flygon can't keep up with that!" He says in a slightly panicked tone.

Serena smiles at Marcus. "We don't know how this Flygon has been raised yet Marcus." She says to him, calmly. "Karhl weighed up his options and decided Ravana has what it takes to beat him, and he may be right. Helmsley might be strong but look at him now." Marcus looks over at the Kangaskhan, who is breathing heavily. "Ifrit really took the fight to Helmsley. He'll be slower and might not have the same agility we saw earlier."

Kassi nods calmly "You're right. Ravana may just have what it takes." She says looking on at the battle. "Even Spike is looking nervous now. Whether that's from How much of a fight that Ifrit put up, or it's just now sunk in that his emotions took over and he made a fool of himself, who can say?" She adds, coldly. The group turn to look at Kassi, all with looks of shock and confusion. Kassi sighs, in response. "Look, I've got no love for Spike. Karhl hasn't forgiven him for what he did, and frankly neither should the rest of us. Not until Karhl says so." She adds, sharply.

"Let's not waste any time, Helmsley. Dain Punch!" Spike commands, urging his Pokemon to charge. Helmsley lunges toward the Flygon, which dodges the attack effortlessly. "What?! No way?!" Spike responds in disbelief at what he just saw.

Karhl, on the other hand, laughs a little bit at the rather over the top reaction from his opponent. "you can't be that surprised, dude." He says, almost mockingly. "Ravana is fast and poor Helmsley has taken quite a beating." He adds. Spike can only look on in frustration as he waits for Karhl to make his move. "Now, Ravana, use Earthquake!" Karhl calls out. Ravana responds by flying up a short distance, then dropping down at speed, somersaulting in the air and slamming his tail into the ground. The ground shakes, causing Helmsley to stumble and fall.

"Helmsley, get up!" Spike calls out. The Kangaskhan rises to his feet, slowly, wincing in pain. "Come on Helmsley! All we need is one solid hit and we've got him! Think you can do that for me, partner?" Spike asks Helmsley. Helmsley roars out, one of his arms raised up, fist reaching to up to the sky.

Seth and company look on with blank expressions at the battle before them. "He never gives up when he has his mind set on something. That's how you know he's being genuine." He says out loud. Serena and Gomez look at Seth with puzzled expressions. Marcus and Kassi give single, stoic nods in his direction, while Muriel looks back and forth between the two groups before looking to her big brother for an answer. "I'm talking about Spike." He says as he stands, gripping the guard rail. "Karhl! Spike! Finish this! Give us the greatest finale that this spectacle you've both put on together deserves. You hear me?!" Seth yells out.

"Spike! It seems The Headmaster has spoken out!" Karhl exclaims. As soon as he finishes this sentence, a loud chat of "Grand Fi-na-le!" fills the stadium. Karhl and Spike look around as the chanting grows louder, before looking directly at each other, seeing nothing but determination in each other's expressions. As the chant dies down, two minutes later, Karhl speaks up once more. "Let's do this Spike! Ravana! Are you ready?!" He asks his Pokemon, who responds with silently, somersaulting again before flying right at his opponent.

"You're on Karhl! Helmsley! Charge!" Spike responds. Helmsley roars into life, showing impressive speed, despite the toll that has already been taken out on him.

"Use Dragon Tail, Ravana!"

"Helmsley! Nail him with a Sucker Punch!"

As Eden's attack just barely misses, Helmsley's Sucker Punch catches the Flygon in the stomach, with the little Kangaskhan connecting in the exact same spot a second later. Spike leaps up "Now follow up with Drain Punch!" He calls out. Helmsley roars, as both parent ad child Pokemon hit Ravana with another punch, draining the very essence from the Flygon, this time. "Now, Crunch!" Spike commands. Helmsley and his tiny companion bite down on each shoulder. Ravana cries out in agony and all Karhl could do was watch in disbelief. "And now the finishing blow! Use Double Edge!" Both the Kangaskhan and its child leap backward before flying directly at the wounded Pokemon.

"Ravana, Return!" Karhl calls out, holding out Ravana's Pokeball, holding his head low. "I'm sorry Spike. Now I owe you an apology." He says, solemnly. "I just… I couldn't continue that battle, knowing I was throwing my Pokemon out into a losing effort." He looks up ever so slightly, turning to face the referee. "It's over I forfeit." He says, then jumping down from his podium heading towards the rampway out of the arena.

Spike jumps down from his as well, chasing him down. "Karhl, hold up!" He calls out. Karhl stops dead in his tracks, looking only at the rampway. "You can turn around to look at me, if you like. I won't force you. I just don't want you to walk away feeling like you robbed me of something…" He says, pausing to collect his words. "… Look, I pushed you away with my betrayal, those many years ago. I'm not expecting you to accept my apology. Much less forgive me. I just want us to get massed it. Move on from that. Are you with me?" He asks. The crowd falls silent.

Karhl looks up and see's the screen above the rampway, officially recognising Spike as the winner. "Already done." He says with a slight smirk before turning around to face Spike, holding up the Too Sweet hand gesture from a fully stretched out arm. "Consider this a friendship, rekindled. Welcome back to Team Epic, Brother Spike!" He says to his friend, gladly.

Spike meets Karhls hand gesture with the exact same one. "It's good to be back, Brother Seth!" He responds. The crowd lights up with cheers and applause, while the rest of Team Epic leave their seat again, with Seth leading the charge. They're away to the back area to catch up to their friends. As they get to the correct area, they see Karhl and Spike talking happily, clearly catching up. Marcus and Gomez wave down their friends to get their attention. Seth is the first to speak when they get up close with Karhl and Spike, meeting Spikes Too Sweet gesture with one of his own. "Welcome back, Spike." He says, with a mile-long smile.

"It feels good to be back, Brother Seth!" Spike exclaims, looking round to see a blonde girl he doesn't recognise. "Welcome to the team. You're new, right? I'm Spike, it's a pleasure to meet you!" He says to Serena, pointing his Too Sweet gesture at her. Serena giggles a little and meets the hand sign with one of her own.

"It's nice to meet you, Spike. I'm Serena. I met Seth when he came to the Kalos Region." She says, smiling at him. Spike nods in response to this, smiling back at her.

"She's also Seth's girlfriend, in case you didn't guess, Spike!" A voice calls out. The whole team turn to follow the voice to see Garret casually sauntering towards them. The whole party run up to him, everyone looking relieved. "Welcome back, Spike. It's great to have you on board again. Still calling yourself 'Mr. Hard Work?'" Garret asks him, half-mockingly, while raising the Too Sweet hand sign.

Spike Meets Garrets gesture with the same hand sign. "You know it, brother Garret! It's good too see you again!" He says, barely containing the joy in his voice.

"How's Nolan, Garret?" Kassi asks, stepping forward. "Is he going to make a recovery?" She follows up.

Garret gives a smile and a single nod. "Yeah, that's the good news. Nolan will make a full recovery." He says to the group, who respond with smiles and loud, joyous shouts, with Serena jumping up and clapping. "That's the good news, however." Garret adds. "The bad news is that he won't recover in time to participate in the tournament."

Marcus ponders over what was just said. "Hold on. What do you mean when you talk about participating in the tournament?" He asks, taking two steps forward towards his friend/

Garret puts his hand under his chin, looking directly at Spike. "Well…" And before he can finish his sentence, he's interrupted by Professor Pine over the Tannoy system.

"Attention, trainers and spectators, alike. I am Professor Pine and I want to thank you all for joining us for the first day of the Scotia Pokemon Classic Tournament!" He calls out excitedly. "Tomorrowm the first-round action will continue! The Stadium is due to close in two hours. But before you leave, I have an announcement to make!"


End file.
